Ips Typographus
Ips Typographus
an insect of the family Scolytidae (bark beetle). The body is brown and measures 4.2–5.5 mm in length. There are rounded depressions on the curves of the elytra, which have four spines on the sides. The surface of the depression is lusterless and covered by a film that is soapy in appearance. In the USSR, Ips typographies is found in the Caucasus, the Ukraine, Siberia, and the Far East. It is also found in China and Korea.
The insect inhabits mainly tree-felling sites, scorched areas, windfall areas, and the edges of forests. A dangerous pest of coniferous trees, especially spruce, pine, fir, and larch, it infests the entire trunk but prefers the portions with thick bark. The insects fly in May and June in the central and northern regions of the USSR and in the second half of April in the forest-steppe and foothill regions of the Ukraine.
The development of larvae and pupae takes 1.5–2 months. The larvae gnaw through the bark, forming close, slightly winding tunnels, that usually do not reach the sapwood. The female deposits eggs in July and early August. The beetles and larvae usually winter under bark, in forest litter, and in other sheltered places. One generation is produced in northern mountain forests, and two generations in the south and in the mixed-forest zone, where summer temperatures are high.
Control measures include the introduction of mixed plantings, maintenance felling, the barking and chemical treatment of felled trees, the setting of trap trees, and the use of chemical agents to protect plantings.