Ips plastographus

Wood & Bright, 1992

California pine engraver, Forgery Bark Weevil

Ips plastographus, commonly known as the California pine engraver, is a bark beetle in the weevil Curculionidae. It is native to western North America and primarily associated with pine , particularly lodgepole pine. New beetles have been documented in short tunnels within the sapwood of windfelled trees. The is provisionally accepted in taxonomic databases and has limited published natural history documentation.

Ips plastographus by (c) Sarah McCaffrey, Museum Victoria, some rights reserved (CC BY). Used under a CC-BY license.

Ips plastographus by Sarah McCaffrey, Museum Victoria. Used under a CC BY 3.0 au license.

Pronunciation

How to pronounce Ips plastographus: /ɪps plæstoʊˈɡræfəs/

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Identification

Ips plastographus can be distinguished from other Ips by the number and arrangement of spines on the declivity of the , a characteristic used to identify members of this . Close relatives such as I. grandicollis (fivespined engraver), I. calligraphus (sixspined engraver), and I. avulsus (small southern pine engraver) differ in spine count and preferences. Accurate identification requires examination of the declivital spines and associated host tree species.

Images

Habitat

Windfelled lodgepole pine forests at montane elevations; specifically observed at 6,100 feet elevation in Montana. hibernate in short tunnels penetrating the bole sapwood of previously unattacked, windfelled trees.

Distribution

Western North America. Documented from Parsnip Mountain, Kootenai National Forest (Lincoln County), Montana. GBIF records indicate presence in North America broadly.

Seasonality

New beetles observed in hibernation on September 27, 1950, suggesting autumn entry into condition. Specific seasonal activity periods beyond overwintering are undocumented.

Host Associations

Pinus contorta - lodgepole pine; windfelled trees used for hibernation

Life Cycle

New beetles overwinter in short tunnels within the sapwood of trees. This hibernation represents a documented life stage, though complete developmental details from to adult remain unreported.

Behavior

Hibernation in short tunnels penetrating the bole sapwood of windfelled, previously unattacked trees. This shelter-seeking in dead wood distinguishes the strategy from active of living or freshly killed .

Similar Taxa

Ips grandicollisBoth are Ips engravers with overlapping western North American ranges; distinguished by declivital spine number (five in I. grandicollis versus different count in I. plastographus)
Ips calligraphusSixspined engraver with similar bark beetle ; spine count and geographic distribution differ
Ips avulsusSmall southern pine engraver primarily southeastern; distribution and preferences assist differentiation

More Details

Taxonomic note

The was described by Wood & Bright in 1992 and is listed as provisionally accepted in the Catalogue of Life. The 'Forgery Bark Weevil' appears in iNaturalist databases, though 'California pine engraver' is more widely used in entomological literature.

Data limitations

Natural history information for I. plastographus is sparse compared to economically significant such as I. typographus. Most available documentation derives from a single 1950 hibernation observation, highlighting the need for additional field studies on this ' , range, and .