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INSECT FACTS |
Identification
The Black Pine Bark Beetle is a black or dark brown beetle with reddish brown antennae. The body is an elongated oval shape, with thorax as wide as the elytra. The elytra have rows of pits running along the length of the body. The thorax is finely dimpled. Newly developed adults are reddish brown, but become dark brown or black.
Size
adult beetles are 4.5mm to 5mm long
Food
Immature Black Pine Bark Beetle feed on bark and inner bark from pine seedlings at ground level, and can kill the seeding. .Adults beetles feed in underground roots and under logs in contact with the ground. They bore into the bark and form breeding galleries. They do not damage the sapwood except in small diameter parts of the plant. In parks and gardens, they sometimes attack ornamental cypresses and pencil pines.
Breeding
The beetle breeds in the inner bark and cambium of pine roots and tree stumps, bases of dying trees, or in logs on the ground.
Classification
| Class: | Insecta | | Order: | Coleoptera | | Family: | Curculionidae | | Genus: | Hylastes | | Species: | ater | | Common Name: | Black Pine Bark Beetle |
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