News » 24.08.2026 - Japanese beetles becoming an increasing pest in Italy, "hitchhiker" found in Netherlands
The iridescent green beetles native to Japan have become a growing menace in Italy, swarming through orchards and vineyards and leaving behind devastating lattice patterns in leaves that weaken the plants and reduce production. The Popillia japonica, or Japanese beetle, is a familiar pest in the United States (US), where it arrived more than a century ago.
But it is a relative newcomer to the European continent, first detected near Milan's Malpensa airport in 2014. In Italy, it has already swarmed through the northeastern regions of Lombardy, Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta, where it appeared last year in terraced vineyards above the town of Donnas.
"We're seeing the popillia steadily advance from terrace to terrace across our historic vineyards," said Luciano Zoppo Ronzero, a farmer who produces Nebbiolo from the terraced vines. "We're now about the 10th terrace and can already see the popillia attacks. This means they're consuming and gradually moving up the mountain."
With no natural predators and an appetite covering over 300 plants and trees, the Japanese beetle has made the European Union's (EU) list of priority pests, meaning that efforts must be made to contain and eradicate outbreaks.
In late July, a dead Japanese beetle was found in the Netherlands that had arrived with a shipment from Italy. The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) emphatically requests the logistics and trade sectors, as well as returning holidaymakers, to be vigilant for the unwanted hitchhiking of the Japanese beetle. The NVWA wants to prevent the beetle from entering the Netherlands. Incidentally, the Japanese beetle is not harmful to humans or animals.
An observant employee of a wholesaler found the beetle in a recently purchased plastic transport container. The containers turned out to have been delivered in early July by an Italian company from an area where the Japanese beetle is present.
The NVWA assumes that the beetle was already dead upon arrival in the Netherlands. To determine whether live beetles might also have been brought to the Netherlands, the NVWA placed traps. No additional beetles were found in these traps. Traps will also be placed in the coming years to check that the Japanese beetle is not present.
The NVWA has requested that members of the public stay vigilant, and catch and immediately report any Japanese Beetle that they may find to the authorities.
Source: www.floraldaily.com
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