BATON ROUGE - Long seen as a New Orleans problem, Formosan termites have become a new reality in Baton Rouge.

A long-time termite researcher at the LSU Agricultural Center says increasing numbers of the insect are now being found in Louisiana's capital city.

Gregg Henderson, who has documented the Formosan termite infestation through trap counts in New Orleans, started looking for them closer to home in 2009.

In May and June of that year, the total number of winged Formosan termites caught in light traps numbered just under 300.

By 2014, the May and June counts from all the traps numbered 8,345.

The Formosan termite were first discovered in Louisiana in 1965 and found to be much more aggressive than the native species of termite.