The USDA already has very strict regulations prohibiting importation of figs from most countries because of the Asian Longhorned Beetle and the Citrus Longhorned Beetle.  Yesterday a fig grower in Malaysia posted photos on Facebook of a ridiculously scary looking giant beetle that has done some serious damage.  I don't know the name of this beetle yet, but thought I'd share these photos.  Sure makes one consider the risks of illegal imports!

 

Ewww giant creature!
  The side effects  of artificial fertilization and depletion of the land is being hormone/food for these creatures. the poor airlayer has little chances.

Now I see why, the USDA has those restrictions, we have enough problems here in US, without these Ugly Bugs hitching a ride over here!!

Wow, that killed my idea of trying to get an international cutting...LOL

And odds are it likes many more things than just figs.

I'm guessing that figs make an ideal host for this pest (and similar ones that are borers) because of the soft corky center of branches.

hits home harder when it's about things we love. lots of pests coming in from asian pacific.

Thanks for the posting and the very good photos.    That looks like a very destructive pest.  It does not look like the Asian Longhorned Beetle but some other destructive beetle.   Here is a link that might be interesting http://asianlonghornedbeetle.com/

Ingevald

I don't know how hard these beneficial nematodes would be to get Malaysia, it may however be worth looking into.

http://www.buglogical.com/beneficial-nematodes/

I am glad that over here in Germany we don't have any big bugs, beetles or squirrels who are interested in figs! Even our local birds have no idea what a fig is. At least some little benefit to live in a cooler climate.

Christian, they are supposedly in southern Europe, which is why all of Europe is off limits for importing, currently. They may be visiting in your neighborhood before long.

Thank you to all who posted this info. I am one who just got some cuttings so now what do I do? Send em to the USDA or throw em in the woodstove?

I would throw them in the freezer in a bag.....when the USDA shows up eventually you will be ready for them and can just say you learned after you received them that it is against the law.

I live in SW Europe and, as far as I know, we haven't new foreign beetles, I have never seen a beetle damaging fig woods. Just some inoffensive green Cetonia beetle on souring/rotten figs.

Dam! I thought Gnats were a problem! 

Dam! I thought one single 'figure-8-wandering' ant? was a problem!
[See above post :-) Need to be logged in.]

The individual who shared these photos from Malaysia reported today that agricultural officials there indicated the beetle normally are found in bamboo.  Figs are a new introduction there and they apparently have found them to be very tasty!

well.. it's not why asia has all these nasty pests.. but why human are over populating the planet and invading natural habitat of those insects. but since we are not into controlling human population, we will have to control the other end of the stick, animals, insects, plants and others. in process we more or less destroy biodiversity and some insects will become a "problem" to us human. and we forget what have we done to get rid of those "problem's' natural predators. 

the areas along the south east asia have conditions that favor large biodiversity, sort of like s. american rain forests which are also going away. human hasn't exactly "harness" the environment there like we did in New York, LA, Paris, Tokyo, Seoul and other fantastic metro cities. as soon as we destroy the remaining rain forests, we won't have to worry too much about any pests... other than the ones that will survive nuclear meltdown like roaches. 

I don't believe human population has anything to do with the presence of these pests.  But when a new plant species (in this case, figs) is introduced into an a new area there is the risk of learning which local insects may find this new plant to be a good host for them.

Cold climates kill off or reduce the populations of many insects so in tropical areas such as Malaysia there are always more insects since they have a year-round food supply.  Whether this bamboo beetle would survive in colder USA climates is anyone's guess, though I imagine it would probably do fine in some areas.

The Asian long-horned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis), also known as the starry sky, sky beetle, or ALB, is a species native to eastern China,Japan, and Korea. This species has now been accidentally introduced into the United States, where it was first discovered in 1996, as well as Canada,Trinidad, and several countries in Europe, including Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK. This beetle is believed to have been spread from Asiain solid wood packaging material.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_long-horned_beetle

This little bugger is one of the reasons Canada has restricted importing figs from Europe, now we need to pay for a Pest Risk Assesment that will take several years to complete.  It is a shame for us in Canada, but I would hate to wake up and find a single one anywhere.  Lucky they haven't seen in it Spain or Portugal according to Wikipedia so that doesn't mean it hasnt been found.

The (black & white) Asian Long Horned beetle was in introduced here in US northeast;
not from plants, but from those thousands/millions of wooden-pallets used by fork-lifters,
while shipping only God knows what merchandise inside those big shipping  metal containers.

Nowadays, these wooden pallets have to be insect-free-certified.
(Also, them same pallets are now being replaced by sterile plastic-ones.)

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/03/14/asian-longhorned-beetle-eradicated-from-new-jersey/

If you see one(1) of these little bad monsters; report it asap to your local agriculture department ...

To be clear, the insect in my original post is neither the Asian Longhorn Beetle or Citrus Longhorn Beetle, both of which are subject of USA federal orders prohibiting/restricting importation of figs and other potential hosts from many countries.

Here is the ALB:
 

Here is the CLB:
 

Here is CLB: