Tree-killing-beetle
Guides
Alniphagus aspericollis
alder bark beetle
Alniphagus aspericollis is a hardwood-killing bark beetle that colonizes and kills red alder (Alnus rubra) and thinleaf alder (Alnus tenuifolia). Unlike most tree-killing bark beetles that attack conifers, this species is one of the few capable of directly killing hardwood hosts. It is bivoltine in southwestern British Columbia, with principal attacks in May and a second generation from mid-July to early August. The beetle constructs maternal galleries parallel to the bole in the phloem-cambium, where larvae develop and pupate. It shows loose associations with ophiostomatoid fungi but has a consistent relationship with an undescribed Neonectria species that may function as a symbiote.