Field guide to exotic pests and diseases: European spruce bark beetle

Ips typographus Linnaeus

Adult beetle on Norway spruce
Source: Forestry Commission Research Agency, United Kingdom

Larval gallery system on imported dunnage
Source: Forestry Commission Research Agency, United Kingdom

Identification: mature larvae about 5mm long, white, legless, with light brown head. Adults 4-5.5mm long; cylindrical and dark brown to black, with long yellowish hairs on head and sides of body; head is visible from dorsal surface. Rear end of body concave, framed on sides by a raised margin bearing four distinct spikes.

Hosts: bark of damaged and healthy softwood trees and timber.

Distribution: Europe, China, Japan, Korea, Far Eastern Russia.

Detection: galleries extend about 12.5cm on the long axis of the trunk, visible when bark is removed, cause red-brown dust in bark crevices, emerge en masse. Emergence holes visible as circular holes 2-3mm in diameter or small tubes of resin protruding from the bark. Species most likely to enter Australia on imported timber packaging or dunnage contaminated with bark.

Potential impact: one of the most destructive pests of spruce in Europe, normally breeds in freshly fallen or weak standing trees but high populations will attack and kill healthy trees.

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