Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T17:04:30.349Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The biology of the oak bark beetle, Scolytus intricatus (Ratzeburg) (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), in southern England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

M. G. Yates
M. G. Yates
Affiliation:
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Monks Wood Experimental Station, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, Cambs, PE17 2LS, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Scolytus intricatus (Ratz.) is a potential vector of oak wilt and is distributed throughout Europe wherever oak (Quercus) occurs. Its biology was studied in England in Monks Wood National Nature Reserve, Cambridgeshire, Alice Holt Forest, Surrey, and the New Forest, Hampshire, in 1977–83. S. intricatus was univoltine. Oviposition occurred from June to September in the bark of cut or weakened oak (Q. robur) over 5 cm in diameter. Eggs were laid in a single batch in maternal galleries cut across the grain of the cambium and phloem. The mean egg batch size was 17–36. Eggs hatched after 10–14 days, and the larvae ate the phloem and underwent five, or occasionally six, instars. The beetle overwintered as third-fifth-instar larvae, which were cold hardy and were located in cells in the phloem or outer xylem. Pupation occurred in spring, in cells in the bark or outer xylem. Emergence occurred between mid-May and mid-July and spanned a period of 3–4 weeks. The sex ratio was 1:1. Males and females differed externally by the presence of a tuft of setae on the frontal-clypeal suture of the head of the male. Newly emerged adults fed on twigs of live oak, but twig feeding was not obligatory for sexual maturation. Mating was observed during attacks on new hosts, which occurred in June-September. The eulophid Entedon ergias Wlk. was an endoparasite of larvae while larvae of the dolichopodids Medetera and Dolichopus and woodpeckers were predators.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 74 , Issue 4 , December 1984 , pp. 569 - 579
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Asahina, E. (1969). Frost resistance in insects.—Adv. Insect Physiol. 6, 1–49.Google Scholar
Atkins, M. D. & Farris, S. H. (1962). A contribution to the knowledge of flight muscle changes in the Scolytidae (Coleoptera).—Can. Ent. 94, 25–32.Google Scholar
Barson, G. (1974). Some effects of freezing temperatures on overwintering larvae of the large elm bark beetle (Scolytus scolytus).—Ann. appl. Biol. 78, 219–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beaver, R. A. (1965). Two braconids and a pteromalid (Hymenoptera) new to Britain.—Entomologist 98, 238–240.Google Scholar
Beaver, R. A. (1966a). The development and expression of population tables for the bark beetle Scolytus scolytus (F.).—J. Anim. Ecol. 35, 27–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beaver, R. A. (1966b). The biology and immature stages of Entedon leucogramma (Ratzeburg) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), a parasite of bark beetles.—Proc. R. ent. Soc. Lond. (A) 41, 37–41.Google Scholar
Beaver, R. A. (1966c). The biology and immature stages of two species of Medetera (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) associated with the bark beetle Scolytus scolytus (F.).—Proc. R. ent. Soc. Lond. (A) 41, 145–154.Google Scholar
Beaver, R. A. (1967a). Notes on the biology of the bark beetles attacking elm in Wytham Wood. Berks.—Entomologist's mon. Mag. 102, 156–162.Google Scholar
Beaver, R. A. (1967b). Hymenoptera associated with elm bark beetles in Wytham Wood. Berks.—Trans. Soc. Br. Ent. 17, 141–150.Google Scholar
Block, W.& Young, S. R. (1979). Measurement of supercooling in small arthropods and water droplets.—Cryo-letters 1, 85–91.Google Scholar
Borden, J. H. & King, C. J. (1977). Population aggregation of Scolytus scolytus.—Res. Dev. Pap. For. Commn no. 118, 8 pp.Google Scholar
Chapman, J. A. (1956). Flight-muscle changes during adult life in a scolytid beetle.—Nature, Lond. 177, 1183.Google Scholar
Chapman, T. A. (1870). Observations on the oeconomy of the British species of Scolytus.—Entomologist's mon. Mag. 6, 126–131.Google Scholar
Choudhury, J. H. (1979). Flight activity, flight orientation and elm-bolt infestation by Scolytus multistriatus (Marsh.).—204 pp. Ph.D. thesis, Univ. London.Google Scholar
Collins, C. W., Buchanan, W. D., Whitten, R. R.& Hoffmann, C. H. (1936). Bark beetles and other possible insect vectors of the Dutch elm disease Ceratostomella ulmi (Schwarz) Buisman.—J. econ. Ent. 29, 169–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowson, R. A. (1962). Observations on Coleoptera in Scottish oak woods.—Glasg. Nat. 18 (4). 177–195.Google Scholar
Duffy, E. A. J. (1953). Coleoptera (Scolytidae and Platypodidae).—Handbk Ident. Br. Insects 5 (15),. 20 pp.Google Scholar
Gibbs, J. N. (1978). Oak wilt.—Arboric. J. 3 (5), 351–356.Google Scholar
Kamp, H. J. (1951). Beobachtungen über die Biologie des Eichensplintkäfers, Scolytus intricatus Rtzb.—Anz. Schädlingsk. 24, 85.Google Scholar
Kirby, S. G.& Fairhurst, C. P. (1983). The ecology of elm bark beetles in northern Britain.—Bull. For. Commn, Lond. no. 60, 29–39.Google Scholar
Lekander, B. (1968). The number of larval instars in some bark beetle species.—Ent. Tidskr. 89, 25—34.Google Scholar
Lekander, B., Bejer-Petersen, B., Kangas, E. & Bakke, A. (1977). The distribution of bark beetles in the Nordic countries.—Acta ent. fenn. no. 32, 37 pp.Google Scholar
Munro, J. W. (1926). British bark-beetles.—Bull. For. Commn, Lond. no. 8, 77 pp.Google Scholar
Peacock, J. W., Lincoln, A. C., Simeone, J. B. & Silverstein, R. M. (1971). Attraction of Scolytus multistriatus (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) to a virgin-female-produced pheromone in the field.—Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 64, 1143–1149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ring, R. A. (1977). Cold-hardiness of the bark beetle, Scolytus ratzeburgi Jans. (Col., Scolytidae).—Norw. J. Ent. 24, 125–136.Google Scholar
Rudinsky, J. A. (1962). Ecology of Scolytidae.—A. Rev. Ent. 7, 327–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schedl, K. E. (1981). Familie: Scolytidae (Borken- und Ambrosiakäfer).—pp. 34–101in Freude, H., Harde, K. W. & Lohse, G. A.(Eds.). Die Käfer Mitteleuropas. 10.—310 pp. Krefeld. Goecke & Evers.Google Scholar
Sokoloff, A. (1972). The biology of Tribolium with special emphasis on genetic aspects. Vol. 2.—610 pp. Oxford, Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Sømme, L. (1964). Effects of glycerol on cold-hardiness in insects.—Can. J. Zool. 42, 87–101.Google Scholar
Von Keyserlingk, H. (1980). Control of Dutch elm disease by behavioural manipulations of its vectors.—Meded. Fac. Landbouw. Rijksuniv. Gent. 45, 475–488.Google Scholar
Yates, M. G. (1981). The subcortical fauna of oak; scolytid beetles as potential vectors of oak wilt disease.—pp. 116–117in Last, F. T. & Gardiner, A. S. (Eds.). Forest and woodland ecology.—158 pp. Cambridge, Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE Symp. 8).Google Scholar