Although the ALB has been eradicated from Staten Island, Manhattan and Islip, it has moved to places closer to Nassau County. Right now, the beetle is quarantined to Queens and a southern section of Long Island around the Nassau/Suffolk border. The goal is to keep the ALB away from upstate New York and the valuable maple syrup industry.

The DEC said if spotted, take a picture and send it to foresthealth@gw.dec.state.ny.us so they can make sure it is ALB. It also recommends keeping the suspect beetle in a container and freezing it. Once contacted, the DEC will say if it should be thrown out or given to them.

Lone Star Tick, scientific name Amblyomma americanum

Native to the United States and found on the East End of Long Island, this tick does not carry Lyme disease like its famous cousin, the deer tick. Long Island, especially the East End, has an overabundance of deer, which allows ticks to spread and thrive.

“You don’t want to be bitten by any tick,” said Young – but the Lone Star tick has something worse than Lyme disease. It carries alpha-gal, a sugar found in non-human mammals.

When alpha-gal gets into the bloodstream – thanks to a tick bite – the human body identifies the sugar as an invader, which can create an allergy – to meat.

From then on, a person with the allergy cannot eat beef, pork, lamb or bison – although chicken, turkey and fish are still okay as they are not mammals.

If someone with an alpha-gal allergy does eat meat, the symptoms – which include upset stomach, diarrhea, hives, itching, swelling – start several hours after eating meat, which makes it hard to identify the cause.

One bite from a Lone Star Tick can make this allergy last anywhere from eight months to five years.