Crews are surveying the area around Kona airport after three adult coconut rhinoceros beetles were found in traps last week.
One of the invasive beetles was found on March 3 at the airport, and two others were found in a trap less than a mile away.
It's the first time they have been detected on Hawaiʻi Island in about five months. The CRB was first detected on the island in 2023 in the Waikōloa area — about 20 miles from Kona.
Now the focus turns to where the latest beetles came from.
"I am concerned that it's maybe a new incursion from, for example, from Oʻahu to Big Island. It could even be from Kauaʻi to Big Island because Kauaʻi in some areas have quite high populations. So that's a concern, but we don't have real hard evidence to say, 'Hey, it came down on a recent shipment.' It's just something I worry about," said Keith Weiser, the deputy incident commander for the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Response.
"Then the other concern is that we don't have traps everywhere on Big Island. So maybe there are some places that do have an infestation and we're just not aware of.”
The CRB had been contained to Oʻahu for about a decade before being detected on Hawaiʻi Island, Kauaʻi and Maui in 2023.
