Order Coleoptera/ Family Buprestidae – Metallic wood-boring beetles

The beautiful buprestid beetles are often called flatheaded borers by foresters. This is because the exit holes of the adults are oval instead of round like those of most other beetles. Old stumps and logs of the Torrey Pine are often seen to be riddled with these holes, though the trees are not killed by buprestids, but rather by members of the Scolytidae, bark beetles. As is the case of most woodborers, these are beneficial to the trees by breaking down the dead wood and recycling its nutrients back to the soil. This species breeds in various Pines, Pinus spp. and Douglas fir, Psuedostuga menziesii throughout the state. Eggs are laid in crevices of bark or in tree scars and larvae mine the cambium layer and then bore into bole of tree. First thoracic segment of larvae is much broader than following body segments. The pictures of the larva and pupa are slightly reduced.