Dendroctonus rufipennis

Spruce Beetle
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Family:	Curculionidae
Subfamily:	Scolytinae
Genus:	Dendroctonus
Species:	D. rufipennis
Binomial name
Dendroctonus rufipennis Kirby

The Spruce Beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) is a species of bark beetle native to British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, the Yukon, and Maine. They are known to destroy forests of spruce trees^[1] including Englemann, White,^[2] Sitka, and Colorado blue spruce.^[3] Adults average 4 to 7 mm in length.^[4]

Life Cycle

The typical life cycle for Spruce Beetles is 1–3 years. In about May or June adults lay eggs in phloem, then in July or August eggs hatch into larvae. Larvae winter in the trees. In about July of the next year the larvae transforms into pupa, and then into an adult in October. The following May the adult emerges and repeats the cycle.

Spreading

The Spruce Beetle is one of many beetle species that have recently increased their breeding times. The overpopulation of beetles in some forests in Kona, Alaska, have damaged several spruce species that are no longer able to dwell there. The Spruce Beetle destroyed 2,300,000 acres (9,300 km²) (2 billion board feet) of spruce forests in Alaska from 1992 to 1999 (about 30 million trees per year at the peak), and 122,000 acres (490 km²) of Utah forests in the 1990s (more than 3 million trees). Outbreaks from 1975-2000 were seen in Montana (loss of 25 million board feet), Idaho (loss of 31 million board feet), Arizona (loss of over 100 million board feet), and British Columbia (loss of 3 billion board feet). As of 2000 the beetle was responsible for the loss of about 400 million board feet annually.^[5] D. rufipennis is also a part of the ecosystem in Colorado.^[6]

References