Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
Some bark beetle parasites insert their ovipositors through the bark of trees to lay their eggs on their hosts. To be parasitized, therefore, host insects must be beneath a thickness of bark less than the parasite ovipositor length. Bark thickness varies at different heights in a tree, but even at a given height the thickness is not uniform because of the fissures. The percentage of bark beetles parasitized by this type of parasite at a given height in a tree is influenced by the percentage of the bark which has a thickness less than the parasite ovipositor length.