Bark Beetles

Distribution-- Throughout the range of the host.

Damage-- Jeffrey pine beetle epidemics are rare. This beetle kills individual overmature and mature trees weakened by drought, lightning strike, windthrow and such. Jeffrey pine beetle often attacks the lower stems of trees that have topkill resulting from previous attacks by pine engraver (Ips pini) .

Identification-- Jeffrey pine beetle typically infests the middle and lower portions of the bole. The gallery pattern is also similar to the mountain pine beetle with a vertical egg gallery, 3 feet or more in length and eggs laid alternately in niches along the sides (fig. 75). The egg galleries usually have a distinctive J-shaped crook at the bottom where the attack was initiated. The larval galleries radiate horizontally from the egg gallery, across the grain of the sapwood. Galleries are tightly packed with boring dust. Adult beetles are very similar to mountain pine beetle (D. ponderosae), but are larger. Pitch tubes are inconspicuous or not present. Removal of bark on the lower stem of large Jeffrey pines by woodpeckers often an indication of Jeffrey pine beetle attack.

Similar damage-- Infestation by Ips spp. will result in visible symptoms similar to those of the Jeffrey pine beetle. The presence of a nuptial chamber and the absence of packed boring dust in Ips spp. galleries distinguish Ips spp. from the Jeffrey pine beetle. Mountain pine beetle adult beetles and galleries are very similar but not seen in Jeffrey pine.

References-- 22, 66

 Bark Beetles 

Spruce Beetle

Red Turpentine Beetle

Western Pine Beetle

Roundheaded Pine Beetle

Mountain Pine Beetle

Jeffrey Pine Beetle

Pine Engraver Beetles

Piñon Engraver Beetle

Douglas-fir Beetle

Cedar Bark Beetles

Fir Engraver

Western Balsam Bark Beetle
Figure 92 / Bark beetle gallery patterns.
Figure 93 / Adult bark beetles. 
Figure 94 / Bark beetle and borer larvae.

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Management Guide

A Field Guide to Diseases & Insect Pests of Northern & Central Rocky Mountain Conifers