Southern Pine Beetle (SPB) is widespread throughout Suffolk County and throughout Long Island. The Southern Pine Beetle is a bark beetle that is about the size of a grain of rice that is native to the Southeastern region of the United States. SPB vary in color from a red-brown hue to black.

SPB feeds on all pine trees including pitch, white and red pine as well as hemlocks and spruce trees. Signs of a SPB infestation include pitch tubes or popcorn-shaped clumps of resin on the exterior of the tree bark, shotgun-like holes on the exterior of the bark, S-shaped tunnels or “galleries” underneath the exterior of the tree bark and a dead pine tree with reddish-brown needles.