Common pine shoot beetle

Type Description

Tomicus piniperda are 3 to 5 mm long or about the size of a match head. They are brown or black and cylindrical. Legless larvae are about 5 mm long with white bodies and brown heads (Plant Protection and Quarantine 1993). Larvae, pupae and adults at different times in the spring in galleries under the bark of dead or stressed trees. Adults form 2mm holes when emerging from tree trunks and 2 to 3mm entry holes when attacking new shoots. First and second year summer shoots become drooping and yellow and red. Dead shoots from current or previous years can be seen on the ground. Tomicus piniperda will have 2 to 10 cm tunnels and may have circular entrance holes near the broken end. Antennae with 6-segmented sloping antennae; tooth-like projections on the anterior margin of the elytra; elytra alternate with rows of setae on raised bases in the pit rows and the second row of the slower has no setae on raised bases. Individuals generally resemble Dendroctonus individuals, but the antennal body is composed of six antennomeres (Thomas and Dixon 2004).

Habitat

"It occurs in agricultural areas, natural forests, cultivated forests, degraded ruderal areas.

In forests, Tomicus piniperda frequently infests railway stations, timber yards and other timber storage areas and, if preventive measures are not taken, it will spread to surrounding pine forests (Juutinen 1978, Långström and Hellqvist 1990 1991, Martikainen et al. 2005). Tomicus piniperda prefers sites with large numbers of dead and dying pine trees that can be used for reproduction (Morgan, de Groot and Smith 2004).

Native: Tomicus piniperda is native to Eurasia (including Siberia) and North Africa (Haack 2006; Kim et al. 2005).
Known range of invasion: Palearctic species with a North American distribution until its presence in the United States in 2003 (Hausner et al. 2005).
In Turkey, Tomicus piniperda was recorded from Marmaris (Lekander, 1971), Hatay-Teknepınar (Horn et al., 2006) and the Western Mediterranean Region (Sarıkaya and Avcı, 2007).

Local dispersal is carried out by flight ability. Adults can reach distances of several kilometers. They are also transported by the wood and wood products they use as hosts.
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Reproductive Information

Tomicus piniperda flies in early spring, affected by daily temperature (Bakke 1968, Haack et al. 1998, Hui 1991, Gallego et al. 2004). Reproduction in bark beetles and other insects that live in trees or wood is usually restricted to dead or weakened trees (Schroeder 1988). Male and female bark beetles, unlike many scolytids, do not have an aggregation pheromone, instead flights take place around the host to attract the female (Loyttyniemi et al. 1980, Eager et al. 2004; Haack 2006). In particular, T. piniperda reacts to monoterpene hydrocarbons released from pine resin (Kohnle 2004; Kangas et al. 1965). This synergizes with ethanol released from the plant tissue under anaerobic fermentation, indicating a potential breeding habitat for the insect (Moeck 1970, Klimetzek et al. 1986, Vite´ et al. 1986, Kelsey and Joseph 2003, Kohnle 2004). Terpinolene is of particular importance and is particularly attractive to T. piniperda (Byers et al. 1985, Volz 1988, Kohnle 2004).

Lifecycle

"Tomicus piniperda completes only one life cycle per year in North America. They spend the winter months in the thick bark at the base of living pine trees. When the beetles become active, they leave their overwintering sites in March and April. Adults can fly several miles during this period to find suitable hosts. Females lay eggs in gallery systems located between the inner bark of the tree and the outer bracket. The egg galleries are 10 to 25 cm long. From April to June, larvae feed under the bark in separate feeding galleries 4 to 9 cm long. Mature larvae stop feeding, pupate and emerge as adults. From July to October the adults tunnel and fly to new pine shoots to feed. The beetles hollow out 2.5 to 10 cm of wood during maturation. Affected shoots droop, turn yellow and fall in summer and fall. Feeding adults attack living pine trees of all sizes. This is the most destructive stage of the life cycle (Plant Protection and Quarantine 1993).

Paired females make egg galleries in the phloem and lay eggs at the edges of the galleries. The hatched larvae consume the phloem and remain under the bark until emerging as adults."

Nutrition Information

Adult beetles breed at the tunnel and bark-wood interface and their larvae feed mainly in the inner bark (phloem) (Haack 2006). In contrast, adult beetles tunnel in wood and inoculate the gallery walls with fungi that serve as food for their larvae (Haack 2006). Tomicus piniperda feeds on both the shoots and the inner bark (phloem) of pine trees (Morgan, de Groot and Smith 2004). Pinus sylvestris L. is the beetle's main host in its range; however, the beetle has also appeared on most North American pines (Schroeder 1987, Sadof et al. 1994, Lawrence and Haack 1995, Morgan, de Groot and Smith 2004).

General Impact Information

"Tomicus piniperda is considered the most serious scolytid pine pest in Europe (Thomas and Dixon 2004). In Europe, annual growth increase and volume losses of 20-45% have been reported (Långström 1980, Långström and Hellqvist 1991, Poland et al. 2003). The beetle lays eggs under the bark of dying or recently killed pine trees (Morgan, de Groot, and Smith 2004). Shortly after development, adult beetles emerge by boring through healthy or weakened pine shoots, causing the shoots to break and fall to the ground. Shoot feeding leads to foliage loss and significantly reduces tree growth (Långström and Hellqvist 1990, 1991, Czokajlo et al. 1997, Morgan, de Groot, and Smith 2004).

T. piniperda is almost entirely dependent on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) as a host. Developing adults feed on vital shoots for maturation, leading to significant increases in losses (Bohnski 2001, Kohnle 2004), while mature adults breed in logs. In Europe, it occasionally attacks fir (Abies spp.) and larch (Larix spp.) (Thomas and Dixon 2004).

Scolytids typically attack stressed or recently fallen host materials, but some may attack and kill seemingly healthy hosts (Haack 2006). In natural Europe and Asia, T. piniperda invades the stems of stressed pine trees (Speight 1980, Jacobs et al. 2004). T. piniperda is considered a bark beetle species damaging pines in the Mediterranean region, especially in Tunisia (Jamaa et al. 2007).

Bark beetles are often vectors of fungi and other microorganisms growing in woody host tissues (Kuhnholz et al. 2001, Kirisits 2004, Haack 2006). Langstrom et al. (1993) and Solheim et al. (1993) have examined various factors related to possible interactions between pine shoot beetle attacks and tree mortality. Among other findings, it was found that T. piniperda introduces fungi into host trees, and from these, healthy trees can be infected with Leptographium wingfieldii, a highly pathogenic fungus (Hausner et al. 2005). The simultaneous presence of Leptographium wingfieldii and Ophiostoma minus (phytopathogenic fungi) in T. piniperda galleries and the beetles themselves has been reported from various regions of Europe, including France (Lieutier et al. 1989, Piou et al. 1989), Sweden (Solheim and Långström 1991), and England (Gibbs and Inman 1991) (Jamaa et al. 2007).

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General Management Information

Preventive measures: Due to the growing awareness of the threat posed by untreated wood packaging material, new wood treatment standards have recently been proposed worldwide. In 2002, the United Nations FAO Ad Hoc Commission on Phytosanitary Measures introduced International Standard No. 15 on Phytosanitary Measures for the treatment of wood packaging to stop the spread of invasives, which is currently being adopted by individual countries (e.g. USDA APHIS 2004b).

General Pathway Information

"Forestry: Due to increasing supply and demand, international trade is the primary method of transporting exotic insects between countries (USDA APHIS 2000; National Research Council 2002, Haack 2006). Tomicus piniperda was transported to North America in the 1980s on cargo ships carrying infested wood packaging material (Humphreys and Allen 1998, Haack and Poland 2001, Morgan, de Groot and Smith 2004).

Nursery trade: Insects are commonly transported in products such as nursery stock, cut flowers, fresh food, seeds, wood packaging material, logs and lumber (Wood 1977, Siitonen 2000, Haack 2001, Dobbs and Brodel 2004, USDA APHIS 2004a, Haack 2006).

Solid wood packaging material: Wood packaging material such as crates and pallets, especially when manufactured from recently felled trees, untreated with heat or chemicals, or transported as a result of the bark trade (USDA APHIS 2000, in Haack 2006).

Transportation of habitat material: In the 16-year period between 1985 and 2000, Tomicus piniperda was detected 151 times in cargo arriving in the United States from 18 different countries."

Notes

The species does not have a reported field of use in the literature.

References