FAMILY SCOLYTIDAE 



X8 



a, 



Scolytus (Eccoptogaster) deodara, Stebbing. 



REFERENCES. Stabbing, Ind. For. Mem. Zool. Ser. vol. i, pt. ii, 23; id. Depart. Notes, vol. i, 220. 



Habitat. Jaunsar, Simla Hill States, Bashahr, Chamba. 



Tree Attacked. Deodar (Cedrus deodara). North- West Himalaya. 



Beetle. Intermediate in size between S. 

 major and minor. Black, moderately shining, 



cylindrical, the elytra 

 Description. tinged with rufous 



brown. Head thickly 



striate behind the eye with close-set vertical 

 striae which are produced down on to the 

 ventral surface, this striation not being pre- 

 sent in 6". minor. Prothorax not longer than 

 broad, not so thickly punctate as is head, the 

 punctures finer and fewer behind. Elytra fairly 

 thickly striate-punctate, sparsely covered with 

 yellow hairs, especially laterally, as are pro- 

 thorax and head. Antennae yellowish brown ; 

 legs rufous brown, tarsi yellow. Length, 

 3.2 mm. to 3.5 mm. 



Larva. When just hatched the young 

 larva is a minute white circular ball. 



This beetle apparently makes its 

 first appearance 

 Life History. in the year in 

 the forest about 

 the middle to the third week of June, 



i.e. not long before the first burst of 



FIG. 363. Scolytus deodara. Steb. a. T , , , 



dorsal and side view of beetle; 6, part of the monsoon rams. Its method of 

 girdled shoot showing point of girdle and egg-laying is quite unlike that of the 

 larval galleries in sapwood above girdle (bark other two species of Scolytus known 

 removed). to i n f es t the deodar. 



The female beetle selects the leader of a sapling or the branch of a 



large tree which may have a thickness of as much as three-quarters of an 



inch in diameter, and proceeds to girdle it. The beetle tunnels first into 



the branch down to the cambium layer, and then eats out a deep groove in 



the bast and sapwood in a horizontal manner round the branch, this groove 



completely girdling the stem. The beetle manages to keep such an even 



course on its way round the stem that it usually hits off to within a fraction 



the point where it started from (vide fig. 363, b.) Small notches are cut 



out on the upper side of the groove and an egg laid in each. These notches 



are usually cut only on the shady or northern aspects of the branch, and the 



groove is generally deepest on this side, so that when the weight of the 



branch causes it to break and bend over it falls on this side. The number of 



eggs laid in one girdled branch is as many as eight, and may be a few more. 



