(CNN) -- What's Hawaii without palm trees?
That's a question the island state hopes it won't have to answer as it attempts to stave off an invasion by the coconut rhinoceros beetle, an unwanted visitor that's already done extensive damage on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.
Big, hungry and hard to kill, the coconut rhino beetle bores into the tops of coconut palms, eating growing tissues, drinking the sap, ripping into the bases of fronds and exposing the plant to disease. Then it crawls off to breed, preferably in piles of mulch or trash. Adults can grow up to two inches long and live to the ripe old age of three months.
"This beetle is really tough, and most of the pesticides that are legal for use in Hawaii do not work on it," said Darcy Oishi, the state Agriculture Department official in charge of containing the beetle.
The first specimens in Hawaii turned up on a golf course on the military's Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, outside Honolulu, in December. About 500 pheromone-baited traps have been deployed within a one-mile radius of the site; authorities have urged the public to look out for the beetle and clear away any debris that might make for a beetle's love nest.
Other alternatives under consideration include possibly releasing a fungus or a virus known to attack the insect in its native habitat in tropical Asia, Oishi said.
Not known how they reached Hawaii
The source of the infestation on Oahu is unclear so far. Oishi said there's no evidence they stowed away aboard a military ship or plane. And since Honolulu's international airport is located just across a highway from the golf course, they might have reached Hawaii via civilian aircraft....
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