| Platypus cylindrus | |
|---|---|
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| Illustration by John Curtis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Curculionidae |
| Genus: | Platypus |
| Species: | P. cylindrus |
| Binomial name | |
| Platypus cylindrus (Fabricius, 1792) | |
Platypus cylindrus, commonly known as the oak pinhole borer, is a species of ambrosia beetle in the weevil family Scolytinae. The adults and larvae burrow under the bark of mature oak trees. It is native to Europe. [1]
The adult oak pinhole borer is between 6 and 8 mm (0.2 and 0.3 in) long, being cylindrical In cross section (hence cylindrus) and, seen from above, shaped like a long, narrow rectangle. Its colour is very deep brown to black. The larvae are yellowish-white, legless grubs. [1]
The oak pinhole beetle is native to Europe. It used to be considered rare in Britain, but after the Great Storm of 1987, when many trees were blown down in southern England, it took advantage of the abundant supply of timber and became much more common. [1] [2]
The oak pinhole borer infests mature trees, favouring stressed, dying or dead standing trees, fallen trees and logs; the insects choose a sick or moribund tree, but their activities do not kill trees. Besides oak trees, they can infest other hardwood trees, including beech, sweet chestnut, ash, elm and walnut. The adults can mature at any time of year but are at their most active from July to September. At this time of year, the male excavates a hole a few centimetres deep. The female goes inside and then emerges, with mating taking place on the surface of the bark. The female then re-enters the hole and the male follows. The female extends the tunnel further, working radially, and the male pushes the wood fragments out, leaving a pile of frass. This residue is fine and soft which distinguishes it from the more granular, coarser material produced by most wood-boring beetles. [1] The walls of the gallery soon become covered with a layer of ambrosia fungi, spores having been introduced on the body surface of the beetles. This symbiotic fungus is only found in the galleries made by ambrosia beetles and provides them and their larvae with nourishment; they do not feed on the wood. [3]
After about four weeks of tunnelling, the female lays a batch of eggs, and lays further batches at irregular intervals during her two or three-year lifespan. She also continues tunnelling, and the branching galleries may extend for as much as 1.8 m (6 ft). The eggs hatch after two to six weeks. The larvae pass through four or five instar stages and feed on the ambrosia fungus. The later instars have powerful jaws and extend the tunnel system further, although they tunnel more slowly than the female; the frass they produce is coarser than that produced by adults. The larval stage lasts for about two years, then the larvae create small chambers in which they pupate, later emerging into the open air as adults without doing any more tunnelling. Several generations of beetle may occupy one tunnel system. [1]
The tunnels made by the oak pinhole borer are about 1.6 mm (0.06 in) in diameter and do not weaken the timber to any great extent. However, they do spoil the appearance of veneers, and the ambrosia fungus produces black staining. The beetles and larvae continue their tunnelling activities in stacked timber, and although at first they only burrow through the sapwood, later they move on to the heartwood. Insecticides have no effect on adults and larvae inside their tunnels, but kiln drying of the timber can kill them when the fungus is unable to survive the desiccation. [1]
Ambrosia beetles are beetles of the weevil subfamilies Scolytinae and Platypodinae, which live in nutritional symbiosis with ambrosia fungi. The beetles excavate tunnels in dead, stressed, and healthy trees in which they cultivate fungal gardens, their sole source of nutrition. After landing on a suitable tree, an ambrosia beetle excavates a tunnel in which it releases spores of its fungal symbiont. The fungus penetrates the plant's xylem tissue, extracts nutrients from it, and concentrates the nutrients on and near the surface of the beetle gallery. Ambrosia fungi are typically poor wood degraders, and instead utilize less demanding nutrients. The majority of ambrosia beetles colonize xylem of recently dead trees, but some attack stressed trees that are still alive, and a few species attack healthy trees. Species differ in their preference for different parts of trees, different stages of deterioration, and in the shape of their tunnels ("galleries"). However, the majority of ambrosia beetles are not specialized to any taxonomic group of hosts, unlike most phytophagous organisms including the closely related bark beetles. One species of ambrosia beetle, Austroplatypus incompertus exhibits eusociality, one of the few organisms outside of Hymenoptera and Isoptera to do so.
The Asian long-horned beetle, also known as the starry sky, sky beetle, or ALB, is native to eastern China, and Korea. This species has now been accidentally introduced into the United States, where it was first discovered in 1996, as well as Canada, and several countries in Europe, including Austria, France, Germany, Italy and UK. This beetle is believed to have been spread from Asia in solid wood packaging material.
The emerald ash borer, also known by the acronym EAB, is a green buprestid or jewel beetle native to north-eastern Asia that feeds on ash species. Females lay eggs in bark crevices on ash trees, and larvae feed underneath the bark of ash trees to emerge as adults in one to two years. In its native range, it is typically found at low densities and does not cause significant damage to trees native to the area. Outside its native range, it is an invasive species and is highly destructive to ash trees native to Europe and North America. Before it was found in North America, very little was known about emerald ash borer in its native range; this has resulted in much of the research on its biology being focused in North America. Local governments in North America are attempting to control it by monitoring its spread, diversifying tree species, insecticides, and biological control.
A bark beetle is one of about 6,000 species in 247 genera of beetles in the subfamily Scolytinae. Previously, this was considered a distinct family (Scolytidae), but is now understood to be a specialized clade of the "true weevil" family (Curculionidae). Although the term "bark beetle" refers to the fact that many species feed in the inner bark (phloem) layer of trees, the subfamily also has many species with other lifestyles, including some that bore into wood, feed in fruit and seeds, or tunnel into herbaceous plants. Well-known species are members of the type genus Scolytus, namely the European elm bark beetle S. multistriatus and the large elm bark beetle S. scolytus, which like the American elm bark beetle Hylurgopinus rufipes, transmit Dutch elm disease fungi (Ophiostoma). The mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae, southern pine beetle Dendroctonus frontalis, and their near relatives are major pests of conifer forests in North America. A similarly aggressive species in Europe is the spruce ips Ips typographus. A tiny bark beetle, the coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei is a major pest on coffee plantations around the world.
The deathwatch beetle is a species of woodboring beetle that sometimes infests the structural timbers of old buildings. The adult beetle is brown and measures on average 7 mm (0.3 in) long. Eggs are laid in dark crevices in old wood inside buildings, trees, and inside tunnels left behind by previous larvae. The larvae bore into the timber, feeding for up to ten years before pupating, and later emerging from the wood as adult beetles. Timber that has been damp and is affected by fungal decay is soft enough for the larvae to chew through. They obtain nourishment by using enzymes present in their gut to digest the cellulose and hemicellulose in the wood.
Frass refers loosely to the more or less solid excreta of insects, and to certain other related matter.
Hylotrupes is a monotypic genus of woodboring beetles in the family Cerambycidae, the longhorn beetles. The sole species, Hylotrupes bajulus, is known by several common names, including house longhorn beetle, old house borer, and European house borer. In South Africa it also is known as the Italian beetle because of infested packing cases that had come from Italy. Hylotrupes is the only genus in the tribe Hylotrupini
The wharf borer, Nacerdes melanura, belongs to the insect order Coleoptera, the beetles. They belong to the family Oedemeridae, which are commonly known as false blister beetles. Wharf borers are present in all the states of the USA except for Florida. It takes about a year to develop from an egg to an adult. The insect is called the 'wharf borer' because the larval stage of this insect is often found on pilings and timbers of wharves, especially along coastal areas. The adult beetles can be identified via a black band across the end of both elytra, or wing covers. In addition, wharf borers can be distinguished from other members of the family Oedemeridae via the presence of a single spur on the tibia of the forelegs, and the distance between both eyes. Eggs are oviposited on rotten wood where larvae hatch and burrow to feed on rotten wood. Adults do not feed and depend on stored energy reserves accumulated during the larval stage. They are considered to be a pest because they damage wood used in building infrastructures.
Synanthedon scitula, the dogwood borer or pecan borer, is a moth that is a pest of many plants including the dogwood and pecan. It is notorious due to the severity of damage it can cause and its widespread geographical distribution.
Platypus apicalis, known by its common name the New Zealand pinhole boring beetle, is a wood-boring beetle endemic to New Zealand and found throughout the North and South Island in a range of environments.
Xylosandrus compactus is a species of ambrosia beetle. Common names for this beetle include black twig borer, black coffee borer, black coffee twig borer and tea stem borer. The adult beetle is dark brown or black and inconspicuous; it bores into a twig of a host plant and lays its eggs, and the larvae create further tunnels through the plant tissues. These beetles are agricultural pests that damage the shoots of such crops as coffee, tea, cocoa and avocado.
Dendroctonus micans, the great spruce bark beetle, is a species of bark beetle native to the coniferous forests of Europe and Asia. The beetles burrow into the bark of spruce trees and lay eggs which develop into larvae that feed on the woody layers under the bark.
Dendroctonus terebrans, the black turpentine beetle, is a species of bark beetle native to the eastern United States. Its larvae tunnel under the bark of pine trees, weakening and sometimes killing the trees.
Xyloterinus is a genus of typical bark beetles in the family Curculionidae. This is a monotypic genus and the one described species is Xyloterinus politus. It is native to North America where it infests both hardwood and softwood trees, as well as stacks of logs.
Platypus quercivorus, the oak ambrosia beetle, is a species of weevil and pest of broad-leaved trees. This species is most commonly known for vectoring the fungus responsible for excessive oak dieback in Japan since the 1980s. It is found in Japan, India, Indonesia, New Guinea, and Taiwan.
Euplatypus parallelus, previously known as Platypus parallelus, is a species of ambrosia beetle in the weevil family Curculionidae. The adults and larvae form galleries in various species of tree and logs. It is native to Central and South America but has spread globally, is present in Africa and is well established in tropical Asia.
Arrenodes minutus, commonly known as the oak timberworm, is a species of primitive weevil in the family Brentidae. These beetles are pests of hardwoods in North America. Adult oak timberworms are shiny, elongate, and range 7 to 25 mm in length. They are reddish-brown to brownish-black in coloration, with yellow spots on their elytra. Adults display strong sexual dimorphism; females have long, slender, straight mouthparts, while males possess flattened, broadened mouthparts with large mandibles. Males are known to be aggressive and use these large mandibles for combat. These mandibles are also used in courtship. Larvae are elongate, cylindrical, white, and curved. They have 3 pairs of jointed legs on the thorax and 1 pair of prolegs near the end of the abdomen.
Euwallacea interjectus, is a species of weevil native to Asia but introduced to Westerns parts of the world.
Euwallacea perbrevis, commonly known as tea shot-hole borer, is a species of weevil native to South and South-East Asia through to Australia, but introduced to Western countries.
Xyleborus perforans, commonly known as island pinhole borer, is a species of weevil native in the Oriental region through to Australia but shows a cosmopolitan distribution due to introduction to many parts of the world.