Origin:
About 7 species of these native beetles occur in North America and are found throughout the U.S. and into southern Canada.
Biology:
This small group of tree-infesting beetles formerly was placed in its own family, the Platypodidae, but has recently been included in the Curculionidae. The females burrow into hardwoods and conifers to create narrow galleries in the wood, then introducing a fungus that grows within the galleries as food for the beetle larvae.
Identification:
The adult beetles are generally very small, from 2 to 8 mm long depending on the species. They are narrow and cylindrical, the prothorax is constricted at its middle, and the antennae are very short and with the last segment greatly enlarged.
Characteristicts Important to Control:
These are fairly uncommon beetles that do little damage to trees. Preventive sprays of residual insecticides may be applied to the bark prior to adult beetle activity. The feeding galleries of the beetles may occur in finished wood products where the milling process exposed the galleries. The beetles will not live in structural lumber, and the damage present is only from the standing tree.
