421 



Burke (H. E.). Biological Notes on some Flat-headed Wood-borers of 

 the Genus Buprestis. — Jl. Econ. Entmn., Coticord, N.H., xi, no. 3, 

 June 1918, pp. 334-338. 



About 21 species of Buprestis are said to occur in the United States 

 north of Mexico, 17 of which have been collected and described within 

 the last fifteen years. All the species are wood-borers, and, so far as 

 knowTi, are able to oviposit directly in the crevices of the wood, as 

 the young larvae can thrive without any bark food. Eggs, however, 

 are often placed under or in crevices of the bark, whence the larvae 

 can easily reach the wood. 



Observations show that at least two, or it may be any number up 

 to fifteen or even twenty, N^ears are passed in the larval stage, and 

 probably some larvae from almost every group of eggs undergo a 

 retarded development and emerge as beetles from one to several 

 years after the main brood. 



A study of the larval characters and biologies indicates that the 

 genus should be divided into three groups, corresponding with those 

 formerly made from a study of the adult characters alone. In the 

 first group are those species in which pupation takes place in the spring, 

 the beetles emerging shortly afterwards ; while those in the other two 

 groups, which differ from each other in morphological characters, 

 agree in that pupation takes place in the summer, the beetles remaining 

 in the pupal cells till the following spring. 



Taken as a whole, the species of the first group mine chiefly in dead dry 

 wood and seldom cause serious injury; on the contrary their presence 

 is often beneficial, since they mine stumps on partly cleared land, 

 causing rapid decay and facilitating removal. The species of the 

 other two groups, however, often attack slightly injured trees and 

 cause severe damage to the wood. 



The species dealt wnth include : — Buprestis rufipes, Oliv., which 

 mines in dead wood, occurring in hickory {Hicoria sp.), beech {Fagus 

 atropunicea), chestnut {Castanea dentata), white oak {Quercus alba), 

 live oak {Q. virginiuna), and tulip tree {Liriodendron tulipifera), 

 also damaging the wood of standing dead trees and of chestnut 

 telephone and telegraph poles ; B. gibbsi, Lee, a rare species that 

 flies in July and August and has not yet been reared, occurring on 

 black Cottonwood {Populus Irichocarpa) and black oak {Q. californica) ; 

 B. confluens, Say, which flies from July to September and lives for 

 several years in the wood as a larva, pupating in the spring and 

 occurring on aspen {Populus trenmloides) and common cottonwood 

 (P. deltoides), mining in the wood of injured, dying and dead trees ; 

 B. lineata, F., a beneficial insect mining the wood of injured, dying 

 and dead trees, especially loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), scrub pine 

 (P. virginiana) and long-leaf pine (P. palusfris), and pupating and 

 transforming to the beetle stage from April to June ; B. consularis, 

 Grory, occurring in dying and dead yellow pine {Pinus ponderosa) 

 and Douglas spruce {Pseudotsuga taxifolia), especially in those trees 

 attacked by Scolytids ; B. connexa, Horn, in stumps and felled trees 

 of western yellow pine {Pinus ponderosa) and Jeffrey pine (P. jejfreyi) ; 

 B. laeviventris, Lee, a beneficial species mining in injured, dying and 

 dead trees of sugar pine (P. lambertianxi), yellow pine (P. ponderosa), 

 lodge-pole pine (P. murrayana), digger pine (P. sabiniana) and Monterey 



