The supercooling point of insects has been used to predict the potential northern distribution of insects susceptible to freezing. So far, these measurements have given a reasonably accurate prediction of the northern distribution of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, and the smaller European elm bark beetle in North America, Scolytus multistriatus. While there is no guarantee this is true for all insects, it does provides a useful tool for estimating the potential northern distribution of newly introduced species unless that species is freeze-tolerant.

In our study, we investigated the supercooling point of alb larvae, how this compares to a native cerambycid from the same sub-family, Monochamus scutellatus (Say), and its potential impact and distribution in North America.