The bark beetle

The bark beetle (or European spruce bark beetle, Ips typographus) is a beetle belonging to the Curculionidae family (or Scolytidae). This small insect is known for infesting primarily coniferous trees, especially the Norway spruce, and is one of the main threats to European forests. It is a small beetle, about 4-5 mm long, dark brown or black . Adult bark beetles burrow tunnels under the bark of trees to lay their eggs. The larvae, once hatched, feed on the phloem, the part of the tree that transports nutrients, disrupting the flow of sap and eventually causing the tree to die. It is widespread in most coniferous forests across Europe, and its impact is particularly severe in areas affected by storms or droughts, where trees are weakened and more vulnerable to infestation.
The bark beetle is especially damaging because it attacks trees that are already weakened or stressed by other factors (such as extreme weather events or climate change). If left unchecked, it can spread rapidly to healthy trees as well, leading to mass die-offs in forests, like those seen after the Vaia storm of 2018 in the Dolomites. Infestation by the bark beetle causes the tree’s crown to wither and the bark to fall off, rendering the wood unusable for commercial purposes.

The bark beetle

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