No new coconut rhinoceros beetles have been detected in Hilo since one was found dead in a trap near the airport last week.
The Big Island Invasive Species Committee has checked every trap in the surrounding area. The committee is asking that more residents host traps on their property.
"They're pretty low tech, they're not too pretty, they're just black panel traps, but they have some pheromone in there that lasts for a couple of months, and that would attract any beetles that might be in the area," said Franny Brewer, the committee's program manager.
"It's not a high catch rate; it's probably between 10% to 30% chance that we might actually catch a beetle in one of those, so we call them detection devices, but the more that we have on the landscape, the higher possibility there is that it will detect a beetle."
The committee is especially interested in residents who live in Panaewa or Keaukaha to host traps due to the density of palms in those areas.
Interested residents should send an email to biisc@hawaii.edu or call (808) 933-3340.
