Tetropium fuscum

Brown Longhorned Spruce Beetle - Tetropium fuscum Fabricius
 

Adult

Brown longhorned spruce beetle
An infestation of the brown longhorned spruce beetle had been found in and around a Halifax, Nova Scotia park, where it was killing red and white spruce (Picea rubens and P. glauca; Smith & Hurley, 2000). The pest is thought to have been imported around 12 years ago on solid wood packing material through the port of Halifax (Ontario's Forests, 2000). The beetle is native to Europe and Asia, ranging from Lapland to Japan. In its native habitat, the pest primarily feeds on dead, felled, or stressed spruce species but will also attack pines (Pinus), fir (Abies), larch (Larix), and some hardwood species (Ontario's Forests, 2000). Trees are girdled by larvae tunneling under the bark in the cambial layer. Healthy, non-stressed trees have been successfully attacked in Nova Scotia, suggesting that there may be less resistance in the North American red spruce than European species (Ontario's Forests, 2000). North American spruce forests and perhaps other conifer-dominated forests are at risk from this serious pest. Canadian authorities have undertaken an eradication campaign in which they cut and chip up infested trees and proximal trees that could provide habitat (Cox 2000). While scientists researched the use of injectable chemical insecticides, in practice the Canadians have relied on destroying infested trees (Canadian Forestry Service, 2001).

Sources
Canadian Forest Service, Atlantic Forestry Centre. accessed July 2004.

Cox, Kevin. June 24, 2000. Does this bug deserve to die? Globe and Mail.

Ontario's Forests, Forest Health. 2000. Questions and answers about the brown spruce longhorned beetle - Tetropium fuscum (Fabr.). July 6, 2000.

Smith, G., and J. E. Hurley. 2000. First North American record of the Palearctic species Tetropium fuscum (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Coleopterists Bull. 54: 540