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Lesser shothole borer

Insect type
  • Latin: Xyleborinus saxeseni (Ratzeburg)
  • English: Lesser shothole borer
  • French: Xylebore épineux
  • Synonym(s): Xyleborus saxeseni Ratz. , Xyleborinus tsugae Swaine , Tomiscus decolor Boildieu , Tomiscus dohrnii Wollaston , Xyleborus libocedri Swaine
Description
Distribution Map

Distribution Map

Distribution

British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec.

Distribution elsewhere in the world

South Africa, Germany, Central Asia, Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Korea, Croatia, Spain, United States, France, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Moldova, Norway, New Zealand, Panama, Baltic states, Netherlands, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine

Micro-habitat(s)

Bark, sapwood

Damage, symptoms and biology

The adult is small (the female is 2.0 to 2.4 mm long, and the male, 1.5 to 2.0 mm long),           cylindrical, and uniformly blackish brown or yellowish brown with short, scattered hairs. Tiny granules (swellings) are present on the elytra, at the apex and near the suture. Granules are absent on the declivity or sloped part of the elytra. The pronotum (or prothorax) and head occupy nearly a third of the insect’s total length. When the insect is viewed from its top surface, the head is not visible. The larva is pinkish white, cylindrical, legless and slightly curved.

Young adults overwinter or enter diapause within the wood. They huddle together at the back of the larval tunnels and emerge between April and August. Peak flight activity occurs from late June to mid-July. After mating, the female bores through the bark and excavates a narrow tunnel (1 mm) which typically extends 0.6 cm to 3.8 cm in a direction that varies with the tree species. The tunnel, or gallery, has a variable number of branches, which terminate in a leaf-shaped enlargement. This is a larval chamber, in which the female deposits about 40 eggs, on average. The larvae develop in these niches and feed gregariously on the mycelium of a fungus called Ambrosiella sulfurea, which is carried to the chamber by the female beetle. The fungus develops on a mixture of sawdust and frass and colonizes the various galleries, staining them dark brown or black. If the larvae do not consume enough fungus, the fungus may close off the galleries, imprisoning them. Since the female lays eggs over a period of several weeks, larvae of different sizes live together in the same gallery or in the different galleries making up the nest.

The insect’s life cycle is completed in 10 weeks and there is one generation, sometimes two generations, per year. Tiny, toothpick-like tubes of slightly compressed sawdust can sometimes be observed protruding from the bark; they are caused by the female pushing sawdust out the entry hole as she tunnels into the tree. The galleries are generally clean. The entry holes are circular, with a black margin, and about 1 to 3 mm in diameter. X. saxeseni can be distinguished from other bark borers by the very narrow galleries it excavates and the leaf-shaped enlargement, or chamber, in which they terminate.

The foliage of infested trees turns yellow, then brown and wilts completely. A severe infestation can kill trees. X. saxeseni is known to preferentially attack trees that have already been weakened or stressed by disease, external injuries or prolonged drought. The insects also infest logs lying on the ground. Tunnelling can cause fungal infections within the tree and compromise the quality of the wood.

Comments

X. saxeseni is the most widely occurring insect in the ambrosia bark beetle group. In some regions, however, it appears to pose a threat mainly to ornamental trees and fruit trees (apricot, cherry and plum). Since only the female beetle is able to fly, it is the female that sets off in search of a suitable host on which to breed. Luckily for the species, females far outnumber the males, with a female:male ratio sometimes as high as 15:1.

X. saxeseni occurs throughout the geographic range of Douglas-fir in northwestern British Columbia, where it capitalizes on natural disturbances such as windthrow and glaze ice. In Quebec, there has been an increase in X. saxeseni populations in southern areas affected by the ice storm of 1998. In France, it is the most common insect in forests damaged by the wind storm of 1999. Nonetheless, X. saxeseni is not considered an economically important pest.

In Canada, X. saxeseni is known to be a pest of dwarf hackberry, a threatened species that occurs only in southern Ontario.

References

[Anonymous]. 1982. Report for 1981-1982 (35th year). Report, Wattle Research Institute, South Africa. 138 pp.

Batra, L.R. 1963. Ecology of ambrosia fungi and their dissemination by beetles. Trans. Kans. Acad. Sci. 66:213-236.

Bouget, C.; Noblecourt, T. 2005. Short-term development of ambrosia and bark beetle assemblages following a windstorm in French broadleaved temperate forests. J. Appl. Entomol. 129:300-310.

Bright, D.E.; Skidmore, R.E. 1994. Scolytidae (Coleoptera) associated with dwarf hackberry, Celtis tenuifolia Nuttall, in Ontario, Canada. Coleopt. Bull. 48:93-94.

Cebeci, H.H.; Ayberk, H. 2010. Ambrosia beetles, hosts and distribution in Turkey with a study on the species of Istanbul province. Afr. J. Agric. Res. 5:1055-1059.

Doerr, M.; VanBuskirk, P. 1993. Shothole borers. In Beers, E.H.; Brunner, J.F., eds. Orchard Pest Management Online. Washington State University, http://jenny.tfrec.wsu.edu/opm/displaySpecies.php?pn=530. Consulté en février 2008.

Ebeling, W. [N.D.]. Urban Entomology, Chapter 5, Part 2. University of California at Riverside, Entomology: http://www.entomology.ucr.edu/ebeling/ebel5-2.html#xyleborus%20saxeseni. Consulté en février 2008.

Espinosa, A.; Hodges, A.C. 2009. Xyleborinus saxeseni. Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health at the University of Georgia. http://images.bugwood.org/mediawiki/pdf.cfm?title=Xyleborinus%20saxeseni. Consulté le 13 décembre 2011.

European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO). [N.D.] Forest pests on the territories of the former USSR. O5/12249. 117 pp. http://www.eppo.org/QUARANTINE/forestry_project/EPPOforestry_project.pdf.  Consulté en février 2011.

Global Biodiversity Information Facility. [N.D.]. Data Portal of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). http://data.gbif.org/welcome.htm. Consulté en décembre 2011.
Hosking, G.P. 1973. Xyleborus saxeseni, its life-history and flight behaviour in New Zealand. N. Z. J. For. Sci. 3:37-53.

Kirisits, T. 2004. Fungal Associates of European Bark Beetles With Special Emphasis on the Ophiostomatoid Fungi. In Lieutier, F.; Day, K.R.; Battisti, A.; Grégoire, J.-C.; Evans, H.F., eds. Bark and Wood Boring Insects in Living Trees in Europe, A Synthesis. Springer, New York. pp. 181-236.

Klimaszewski, J.; Langor, D.W.; Majka, C.G.; Bouchard, P.; Bousquet, Y.; LeSage, L.; Smetana, A.; Sylvestre, P.; Pelletier, G.; Davies, A.; DesRochers, P.; Goulet, H.; Webster, R.P.; Sweeney, J.D. 2010. Review of adventive species of Coleoptera (Insecta) recorded from eastern Canada. Pensoft Publishers, Sofia, Bulgaria. 272 pp.

Majka, C.G.; Anderson, R.S.; McCorquodale, D.B. 2007. The weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) of the Maritime Provinces of Canada, II: New records from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and regional zoogeography. Can. Entomol. 139:397-442.

Mattson, W.J.; Niemela, P.; Millers, I.; Inguanzo, Y. 1994. Immigrant phytophagous insects on woody plants in the United States and Canada: an annotated list. General Technical Report NC-169. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Forest Experiment Station. 32 pp.

Oliver, J.B.; Manion, C.M. 2001. Ambrosia beetle (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) species attacking chestnut and captured in ethanol-baited traps in middle Tennessee. Environ. Entomol. 30:909-918.

Pelletier, G. 2000. Impact du verglas de 1998 après deux ans sur les populations de coléoptères associés à la matière ligneuse dans les érablières du Québec. Ressources naturelles Canada, Service canadien des forêts, Sainte-Foy, Rapport interne. 24 pp.

Prebble, M.L.; Graham, K. 1957. Studies of attack by ambrosia beetles in softwood logs on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. For. Sci. 3:90-112.

Roling, M.P.; Kearby, W.H. 1975. Seasonal flight and vertical distribution of Scolytidae attracted to ethanol in an oak-hickory forest in Missouri. Can. Entomol. 107:1315-1320.

Sagvolden, B.A.; Hansen, L.O. 2001. Notes on Norwegian Coleoptera 5. Norw. J. Entomol. 48:281-287.

Shore, T.L.; McLean, J.A. 1995. Les scolytes du bois. In Armstrong, J.A. et Irving, W.G.H. eds., Insectes forestiers ravageurs au Canada. Ottawa, Ressources naturelles Canada, Service canadien des forêts, Direction des sciences et du développement durable. pp. 165-170.

Simon, M. 1995. Investigations into bark beetles (Coleoptera, Scolytidae) living on beech (Fagus sylvatica) / Untersuchungen zu an Buche (Fagus sylvatica L.) lebenden Borkenkäfern (Col., Scolytidae). Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Allgemeine und Angewandte Entomologie: 161-165.

Turnquist, R.; Humphreys, N. 1996. Forest Insect and Disease Conditions Vancouver Forest Region — 1995. Victoria, Pacific Forestry Centre, FIDS Report 96-5. 45 pp.

Weber, B.C.; McPherson, J.E. 1991. Seasonal flight patterns of Scolytidae (Coleoptera) in black walnut plantations in North Carolina and Illinois. Coleopt. Bull. 45:45-56.

Welch, R.C. 1987. Xyleborus saxeseni (Ratz.) (Col., Scolytidae) attracted to blue car in Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. Entomol. Mon. Mag. 123:161.

Information on host(s)

Main Host(s)

Amabilis fir, black walnut, Douglas-fir, dwarf hackberry, Manitoba maple, pines, plains cottonwood, sugar maple, western hemlock, white elm