Post-fire-specialist
Guides
Salpingidae
Narrow-waisted Bark Beetles
Salpingidae is a family of small beetles in the superfamily Tenebrionoidea, commonly known as narrow-waisted bark beetles. The family comprises approximately 45 genera and 300 species distributed globally, with greatest diversity in temperate regions of both hemispheres. Species range from 1.5 to 7 mm in length and are primarily associated with dead or dying wood, where they feed on fungi, organic matter, and occasionally other insects.
Sericoda bembidioides
Sericoda bembidioides is a pyrophilous ground beetle inhabiting post-fire environments in boreal forests. The species shows strong positive association with fire severity but negative response to salvage logging combined with wildfire. Abundance declines sharply within three years following fire. It serves as a host for phoretic mites in the genus Antennoseius.
Syntexis
cedar wood wasp, incense-cedar wood wasp
Syntexis is a genus of wood wasps in the family Anaxyelidae, containing a single extant species, Syntexis libocedrii, often called a 'living fossil' due to the family's extensive Mesozoic fossil record. The genus is notable for its obligate association with fire-damaged conifers and its prolonged larval development in living tree wood. Syntexis represents one of the most relictual lineages among extant Hymenoptera.
Syntexis libocedrii
incense-cedar wood wasp, cedar wood wasp
Syntexis libocedrii is the sole extant representative of the family Anaxyelidae, a lineage with an extensive Mesozoic fossil record that makes this species a 'living fossil.' It exhibits a highly specialized reproductive strategy, ovipositing exclusively in wood of recently burned conifers including incense-cedar (Calocedrus), red cedar (Thuja), and juniper (Juniperus). The species is rarely encountered due to its cryptic habits and dependence on post-fire environments.