Inspectors found dozens of insects inside two quarantined shipments of Christmas trees yesterday, including a single, dead German yellow-jacket wasp — a species that does not exist in Hawai'i.

Three other, unidentified species of "worker yellow-jacket wasps" were also found during yesterday's inspection, said Domingo Cravalho, inspection and compliance section chief at the state Department of Agriculture.

The unknown species are "unfamiliar to our entomologists," Cravalho said. "We also found other insects, like stink bugs, beetles and the likes. Those were all collected and will be looked at."

A second container of trees carried seven live yellow-jackets known as Vespula pennsylvanica.

The two containers inspected yesterday were among four that had been quarantined over the weekend when yellow-jacket wasps were discovered inside.

The four quarantined containers were part of a larger shipment of 101 containers full of Christmas trees from the Pacific Northwest that represent Hawai'i's first major shipment of the season.

Three of the quarantined containers — including the two that were inspected yesterday — held trees from Oregon-based grower Kirk Co., said Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Janelle Saneishi.

A third container with Kirk trees will be inspected tomorrow, Saneishi said.

The trees that passed inspection yesterday "are cleared and can be sent to market for sale," Saneishi said.

The fourth container belonged to Holiday Trees of Oregon and will be sent back at the company's request, Saneishi said.

Kirk employees yesterday unloaded the quarantined trees from two containers, shook them to look for insects and then repackaged each one after they passed inspection, Saneishi said. Holiday Trees does not have similar manpower in Hawai'i to go through each tree under quarantine, Saneishi said.

The worrisome German yellow-jacket arrived in its refrigerated container dead, Cravalho said.

But the three unidentified yellow-jackets in the same container "were well alive," he said. "They were moving about and they're still moving about. They and the other insects will be placed in alcohol immediately."

Inspectors opened each of the 24-foot shipping containers full of Kirk trees in a special screened area designed to prevent insects from flying away, Cravalho said.

Inspectors also set out opened cans of tuna to attract any wayward yellow-jackets, Cravalho said.

"They apparently like tuna," he said.

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.