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Field guide to exotic pests and diseases: Mountain pine beetle
Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins
Adult beetle
Source: Forest Research, New Zealand
Colony with mountain pine beetle adult, larvae and damage
Source: Forest Research, New Zealand
Identification: mature larvae about 5mm long, white, legless, with light brown head. Adults 3.7-7.5mm long; stout and cylindrical; rusty-brown to black; head is visible when viewed dorsally.
Hosts: Polyphagus in Pinus genus, can attack species such as spruce (Picea) if in large numbers.
Distribution: Canada, USA.
Detection:Larvae: chew feeding galleries at right angles to parent gallery; often cause red-brown dust in bark crevices; emerge en masse from circular holes 2-3mm diameter or small tubes of resin protruding from bark. Most likely to enter Australia on imported timber, packaging or dunnage contaminated with bark; associated with a blue stain fungus visible in wood.
Adults: construct egg galleries up to 90cm long beneath bark and parallel to the grain of the timber.
Potential impact: population build up in freshly fallen or weakened trees but will vigorously attack and kill growing trees when populations are in large numbers. Blue stain fungi and risk of increased timber decay associated with beetle introduction.