An invasive insect from China that typically devastates ash trees has started harming another type of tree, a worrisome trend for scientists.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture found recently that the emerald ash borer, a small, glittery green insect that is known to destroy ash trees unless treated with expensive chemicals, had targeted the white fringe tree — a tree that is in the same family as the ash, but also the forsythia and lilac, according to a Philly.com report.

The revelation brings up “more questions than answers,” said Tom Tiddens, the Chicago Botanic Garden’s supervisor of plant health care. The garden has 42 white fringe trees in its care.

The question this revelation raises is whether the insect will become a major pest for fringe trees, and whether it will damage or outright kill the trees, as it does with the ash. Scientists are hoping the bug was simply “taste-testing” the fringe tree.

A scientist in Ohio made the discovery while on a walk when he decided to examine a nearby fringe tree.

Most worrisome is the fact that the ash borer completed its life cycle on the tree, including laying eggs that hatched and reemerged as adults.

Scientists don’t believe forsythias or lilacs are in danger because they don’t have enough bark, which is what the insect relies on. However, the discovery in Ohio raises questions on whether the bug has adapted to prefer other types of tree food.

The ash borer was first discovered in 2002 and it has ravaged forests on the East Coast and the Great Lakes regions.

The borer lays eggs in the ash tree’s bark, and the larvae girdle the tree, which shuts off nutrients to the tree and kills it.