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A current threat to our urban pines is the Black Turpentine Beetle (Dendroctonus terebrans). Found from New Hampshire south to Florida and as far west as Texas, this pest is attracted to resin emitted by freshly cut trees or stumps and to weakened or stressed trees.
This strong flier attacks pine trees, usually between 3 to 8 feet above ground. Entrance holes bored through the bark are the first signs of infestation as the beetle chews tunnels into the inner wood. The discarded matter mixed with the tree's pitch forms a 'pitch tube,'
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usually about the size of the end of a thumb., on the exterior of the tree. Fresh tubes are reddish-brown and approximately 1 inch diameter. Eggs are laid in the tunnels; new adults emerge in nine weeks.
As a tree loses its ability to combat the attack, the foliage becomes chlorotic, losing its color. The needles will eventually fall off. This occurs approximately 4 to 8 months after infestation.
The adult beetle is dark brown to black and measures 3/8 inch in length with a round posterior. They
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may also carry the 'blue-stain fungus' (leptographium) which disrupts a tree's water transportation system and can hasten a tree's death. Only a few entrance holes are necessary to kill a tree when this fungus is present. The disease gets its name from the bluish-black staining of the inner wood.
Combating this pest calls for preventive measures: preventing damage to trees; quick repair of damaged trees; removal of fresh stumps, etc. Early infestations can be treated with pesticides applied by a licensed applicator.
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fornia relatives, is a deciduous conifer, meaning it sheds foliage in the fall and new leaves appear in the spring.)
Coincidentally that same year, a Chinese forester found the same specimen near a remote village in the eastern Szechwan Province of China.
Because of the raging war at that time, additional study could not continue until 1945, when, T. Wang, a
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