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THE BIOLOGY OF THE FIR TREE BORER, SEMANOTUS LITIGIOSUS (COLEOPTERA: CERAMBYCIDAE), IN CALIFORNIA1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Boyd E. Wickman
Boyd E. Wickman
Affiliation:
Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Berkeley, California
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Abstract

The fir tree borer is found in the coniferous forest belt of North America. The insect can cause serious degrade in lumber manufactured from windthrown white fir. Adults attack host trees in early spring, laying eggs in bark crevices. The incubation period is 10–30 days, depending on temperatures. The larvae excavate winding galleries in the phloem, deeply etching the sapwood, until midsummer when they enter the sapwood. Damage is caused by the larvae boring up to 3 in. into the wood to construct pupal chambers. Pupation lasts 2–4 weeks in fall; callow adults are formed by September and overwinter in the pupal chambers. Emergence occurs the following March or April.

Three principal natural enemies were found: two predators, woodpeckers and an ostomid beetle, and a braconid parasite. Population fluctuations hinged on availability of host material and pressure from natural enemies.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 100 , Issue 2 , February 1968 , pp. 208 - 220
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1968

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References

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