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Sculptures by Phyllis Bone


INTRODUCTION  -  THE IMPORTANCE OF BEETLES  -  WOOD BORING & PESTIFEROUS BEETLES

GENERAL FAMILIES / NOVEL BEETLES  -  REFERENCES


WOOD BORING AND PESTIFEROUS BEETLES

Family Curculionidae (Weevils or snout beetles)

The family Curculionidae is a very large and important family of beetles. It has the highest number of species (ca. 50,000) in the order Coleoptera (Csoka & Kovacs 1999). Most have a pronounced rostrum and are called snout beetles. Nearly all are phytophagous with a broad range of life histories and morphologies (Csoka & Kovacs 1999).

Many species excavate characteristic tunnels in the bark of trees called galleries. In some cases adults excavate mating chambers and lay their eggs in specially created egg galleries. Feeding larvae then radiate from these galleries forming species-specific patterns. The size and shape of the gallery can be used to successfully identify the beetle species (Csoka & Kovacs 1999).

The family includes the beetles of the subfamily Scolytinae, this was considered a separate family some 50 years ago. Bark beetles are xylophagous beetles that have great economic impact killing tens of thousands of hectares of forest. (Csoka & Kovacs 1999). Scolytus scolytus, the vector of Dutch elm disease belongs to this family.

Dendroctonus micans Hylobius abietis
Ips sexdentatus Ips sexdentatus in wood
Ips sexdentatus in wood Ips sexdentatus in wood

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Ips typographus Platypus cylindrus
Scolytus ratzeburgi Scolytus scolytus
 
Tomicus piniperda  

INTRODUCTION  -  THE IMPORTANCE OF BEETLES  -  WOOD BORING & PESTIFEROUS BEETLES

GENERAL FAMILIES / NOVEL BEETLES  -  REFERENCES