Insects
Attacking
Forest
Products
Introduction
Much damage to timber and finished
wood products
Estimated – 1-5 % annual cut
Damage to cut timber and finished
products especially serious because
damage comes after much investment
Insects attacking living trees
Insects attacking cut trees
Insects attacking wood in use
Asian Longhorned
Beetle
Anoplophora
glabripennis
Newly introduced
insect menace
Egg
Larva
4 instars
Pupa
Adult
Asian
Longhorned
Beetle
Life cycle
Beetles
spend
most of
life in
tree.
Very
difficult
do
control
Damage / ID
Beetle exit
holes are ½ in
or more in
diameter
Adults can fly
100’s of feet to
infest new trees
Asian longhorned
Beetle damage
Dead branches
on Asian LHB
infested tree
Hosts:
Boxelder
Maples – Many species
Horse chestnut
Mulberry
Poplar – Many species
Black Locust
Willow – several species
Elm - Chinese
Asian Longhorned beetle is unusual:
1) It attacks healthy trees
2) It spends major part of life cycle in
Phloem, not Xylem
3) It kills healthy trees
4) Adults feed on the twig bark
of healthy trees. Wounds serve as
entry sites for pathogens.
Untreated wood is
commonly used for
shipping crates and
pallets = ‘dunage’
4th instar larvae
and/or pupae
commonly infest
wood used for
shipping crates and
arrive alive in US.
Difficult inspection job for APHIS Officials
Serious insect and political problem
First found in Brooklyn, NY - 1996
Second infestation found in Long Island,
NY in 1996
Later, in 1999 found in Chicago, IL
2002 – established infestation in Jersey
City, New York
Quarantined area within a 1.5 mile radius
of site – all trees were cut & burned
Asian longhorned beetle
Video of Asian Longhorned beetle
Management
& Control
Quarantines,
fines!
Management & Control
Cut infested trees and burn.
Clear cut trees around infestation.
Strengthened importation rules on
crates using wood & dunage.
Believed to be eradicated &
not yet established.
Emerald ash borer: Newly introduced pest
•Discovered 2002 in Michigan
•Attacks all species of Fraxinus, as well as
some Ulmus, & Juglans spp.
Larval galleries girdle branches and trees
•Trees often die
2-3 years after
Infestation
•Established!
Since 2002: Emerald Ash Borer
• Killed at least 8 - 10 million ash trees in
Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. Most of the
mortality is in southeastern Michigan.
• Resulted in quarantines in Ohio, Indiana and
Michigan and fines to prevent infested ash
trees, logs or firewood from moving out of
areas where EAB occurs.
• Cost municipalities, property owners, nursery
operators and forest products industries tens
of millions of dollars.
Emerald Ash Borer:
Signs/Symptoms
• Distinct, D-shaped exit holes in the bark
• Serpentine-shaped tunnels under the
bark on the surface of the wood
• Young sprout growth clustered at the
base of the tree
• Unusual activity by woodpeckers
• Die-back on the top third of the tree
• Vertical splits in the bark
Emerald ash borer – stages/damage
Management & Control
1. Quarantine of wood/trees Intra- and
Inter-state from Michigan with stiff
fines
2. Early detection in quarantined areas
3.Eradication of infested material
4.Researching possible insecticide use
– expensive and difficult
Insects attacking recently cut trees
Ambrosia Beetles
Early observers noted droplets of a
fluid in the beetle galleries. Called it
“ambrosia” hence their name
Found in both conifer and hardwood
tree species
General Feeding Habits of
Ambrosia Beetles
1. Invade wood but do not feed on
phloem or xylem
2. Inoculate galleries in the xylem with
fungus, adults and larvae feed on
mycelium
Ambrosia beetle stages & damage
Ambrosia beetles attack:
•Felled trees
•Weakened trees
•Logs & green lumber
•Entire shipments damaged
•Degrade wood value
Small holes
Fungal stains
Main gallery
Larva
Pupa
New Adult
Pupa
Ambrosia beetle immatures in “cradles”
Damage
Holes / Staining
Staining in veneer log
Ambrosia Beetle
Many customers demand high quality,
defect free lumber.
Especially the export markets
Holes in wood, or stains not acceptable.
Bundled timber with insect damage
must be unpacked, sorted repacked.
Management for beetles expensive and
adds to lumber costs.
Striped Ambrosia Beetle - Conifers
Trypodendron lineatum
Degrades wood of all conifer species
Insect Biology
•Over-winters in stump & logging debris
•Flies in spring to felled trees or logs
•Females produce pheromone / mate
•Tunnels into sap wood of tree and lays
eggs in the “Cradles”
•Inoculates fungus which stains wood
black
•Mycelia gardens – food for larvae &
adults
Beautiful Damage?
Management
1. Timber must be used &
processed quickly / kiln dry
2. Keep wood wet - sprinklers
3. Use insecticides or repellants on
log decks.
4. Set pheromones away from deck
(Last two steps significantly
increase lumber costs)
Primary southern pine Ambrosia beetle
Platypus flavicornis
Attacks weakened, dying or fresh cut pines.
Attack pine bark beetle killed trees within 5-10
days.
Infest sapwood and heart wood by the
hundreds of insects.
Produces piles of fluffy, white boring dust at
base of infested trees.
Reduce value of salvaged timber.
Ambrosia Beetle boring dust
Management Platypus flavicornis
•Timber must be used & processed
quickly / kiln dry
•Get to beetle spots quickly
•Keep wood wet
Ambrosia Beetles in Hardwoods
Columbian Timber Beetle
Corthylus columbianus
While most ambrosia beetles attack
weakened, dying or dead trees.
The Columbian timber beetle prefers
healthy trees.
Insect Biology
Over-winters in litter layer & flies in spring to
healthy trees
Males produce pheromone to attract females
Female tunnels in sapwood and lays eggs in
“cradles’
2-3 generations / year
Fungal stains – extend several cm from
galleries
Degrades wood quality so it can’t be used for
Veneer or Furniture
Columbia Timber beetles
Columbian Timber Beetle Damage
Management -
Columbian Ambrosia Beetle
•No effective control available
•Usually controlled by not
selecting infested trees or culling
on log decks
Flatheaded Borers or
Metallic Wood Borers
Flatheaded Borer Larva – note “V”
Round-headed Borers or
Longhorned borers
Locust Borer Adult - Cerambycidae
Borer Damage on Black Locust
Cottonwood Borer Adult
Longhorned Borer:
Adults, larvae & damage
Insects attacking wood in use
Powderpost beetles
Coleoptera
Adult
Lyctus sp
Powderpost beetle damage
Powderpost beetle damage
Chlorpyrifos
Cyfluthrin
Cypermethrin
Permethrin
Carpenter Ants
Order – Hymenoptera
Carpenter ant damage
Carpenter Bee
& damage
•Unpainted/stained wood
•Paint/stain
•Chlorpyrifos etc
•Tennis racket
Native Subterranean Termites
Order – Dictyoptera or Isoptera
Must have access
to moisture.
Barriers installed
in homes.
Soil treatments:
Cypermethrin
Fenvalarate
Imidacloprid
Formosan Subterranean Termites
Introduced from Asia
Doesn’t need access to
moisture: 25% w/o soil
contact.
Barriers installed in
homes don’t work.
•Larger colonies
•More aggressive
•Summer/Spring wood
•Chew through plastic,
asphalt and soft metal
Current range of FST
Drywood Termites
Order – Dictyoptera or Isoptera
•Need little or
no water
•Smaller colonies
•Less damage
End of wood
product pests