Japanese beetle, a cautionary tale

I had a call recently about an IPM issue regarding Japanese beetle.  A Japanese beetle crawl into the ear of a worker while working in a vineyard.  Despite frantic efforts to extract the invader, the beetle became lodged so deeply in the man’s ear that he had to go to the hospital to have it (the beetle, not his ear) removed under sedation (the worker, not the beetle).  There were some abrasions on the man’s ear drum but his hearing was not seriously affected.  Apparently this is not the first time this has happened, as there are several references to “Japanese beetle in ear” on Google.  If you have a high level of Japanese beetles in your vineyard or orchard, workers might want to stuff some cotton balls into their ears or use other ear protection to prevent unwanted visitors.