States where it attacks cherry and other stone fruit trees. Breeding attacks some- 
times kill defoliated forest trees (/07/) and aggregations of overwintering adults 
may damage orchard trees by killing patches of bark. Adults are light brown to 
nearly black, feebly shiny, sparsely clothed with long, fine, whitish hairs, and from 
1.5 to 2.2 mm in length. The habits of the species are similar to those of P. frontalis 
except that the galleries tend to be somewhat more irregular. 
The genus Phloeosinus is represented in North America by 27 species, 5 of 
which occur in eastern forests (/22). They breed preferably in cut, broken, or 
decadent conifers. The adults construct short, longitudinal egg galleries between 
the bark and wood. Newly emerged adults feed briefly before attacking a new host. 
Sometimes they clip off and eat young leaflets on healthy trees. Generally, however, 
they bore into the twigs. This occasionally causes the twigs to wilt, die, break, and 
drop to the ground. 
Phloeosinus dentatus (Say), the eastern juniper bark beetle, occurs from New 
Hampshire to Georgia and westward to Texas and Nebraska. Its most common host 
is eastern redcedar, but it also attacks northern white-cedar. The adult, piceous- 
brown to black, is clothed with rather abundant short, gray hairs, and is 2.2 to 2.8 
mm long. Eggs are laid in short galleries that extend upward from the entrance 
hole. The larvae mine for short distances across the grain, then upward with the 
grain (fig. 164). Infestations are usually found in cut, broken, or fire-damaged 
trees. Attacks have been reported on living, overtopped redcedars infested with the 
root rot fungus, Fomes annosus (Fr.) Karst, in North Carolina. Neither the insect 
nor the fungus working alone usually kills trees. Working together, however, they 
kill trees of all sizes (76). Cutting and burning infested branches and keeping the 
trees in a healthy condition should be helpful in control. 
Courtesy Duke Univ. Sch. For. 
Figure 164.—Egg galleries and larval mines of 
Phloeosinus dentatus, the eastern juniper bark beetle, 
on trunk of eastern redcedar. 
Phloeosinus taxodii Blackman, the southern cypress beetle, breeds in bald- 
cypress and probably occurs wherever its host grows in the South. The adult is 
brownish black, has reddish-brown elytra, and is from 2.1 to 3 mm long. Logging 
slash and the larger limbs and trunks are especially attractive for breeding purposes. 
The galleries, and the larval and adult feeding habits are similar to those of the 
eastern juniper bark beetle. Because it apparently does not attack and kill living 
trees, the species is of minor importance. 
351 
