Pine Beetle

(Ips sexdentatus), the largest beetle of the family Scolytidae found in the USSR. The cylindrical body reaches 8 mm in length and is covered with long brownish yellow hairs. The apices of the elytra have six denticles each. The coloration is brown. The pine beetle, which is distributed in Europe and North Asia, infests the common pine, Siberian stone pine, spruce, fir, and larch. It usually inhabits the thick trunks of dead but not yet desiccated trees; it also infests and causes the death of weakened living trees. There is one generation each year. Control measures include notching and stripping the bark from affected trees before the beetles emerge and setting out trap trees whose bark has been removed during pupation of the insect larvae.