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Spruce > Trunk or branches > Frass on trunk

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  • Image: Northern spruce engraver beetle 1
    Credit: Mike Albers, MN DNR
  • Image: Northern spruce engraver beetle 2

    Credit: Mike Albers, MN DNR

  • Image: Northern spruce engraver beetle 3

    Credit: Mike Albers, MN DNR

  • - CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE -

green arrowNorthern spruce engraver beetle
Ips perturbatus

  • Reddish brown frass around exit holes and on the bark and on the ground
  • Found mostly on white spruce in plantations, rarely in home landscapes
  • Needles discolors to yellowish-green to red, branches can die back
  • Creates distinctive galleries under bark
  • Adult < 1/4 inch long, cylindrical, reddish brown to black bark beetle, larva is small legless whitish grub
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  • Image: Spruce beetle 1
    Credit: Edward H. Holsten, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org
  • Image: Spruce beetle 2

    Credit: Steven Munson, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

  • Image: Spruce beetle 3

    Credit: Steven Munson, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

  • - CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE -

green arrowSpruce beetle
Dendroctonus rufipennis

  • Found in stands white spruce in northern Minnesota, particularly along the North Shore
  • Prefers larger trees, 12 inch diameter trees or larger
  • Needles discolor yellowish green to reddish brown
  • Reddish brown sawdust around exit holes and on the bark and on the ground
  • Pitch tubes develop around exit holes
  • Trees eventually die
  • Adult beetles are 1/4 inch long and black to reddish-brown; larvae are small, white legless grubs
  • More information on Spruce beetle...

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