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Figure 174.—Egg cradles of the ambrosia beetle, 
Platypus flavicornis. 
female, it bears two large pits just behind the middle. The third, fifth, and seventh 
interspaces of the elytra are produced into toothlike processes on the elytral 
declivity of the male. Two large tuberosities also occur on the lower edge of the 
declivity in the male, and two hooklike spines are on the fourth abdominal segment 
(76). 
Platypus compositus (Say) occurs throughout the Southern States northward to 
southern New York and southern I[Ilinois. It breeds in a wide variety of deciduous 
trees such as hickory, pecan, birch, poplar, oak, chestnut, basswood, elm, beech, 
sweetgum, tupelo, magnolia, baldcypress, and persimmon (fig. 175). Recently 
felled or girdled baldcypress is often seriously damaged. Adults are light reddish- 
brown and about 4.5 mm long. The front of the head is densely punctured above, 
and there are two centrally located pits just behind the middle of the pronotum. The 
first. third, fifth, and seventh interspaces of the elytra of the male are produced into 
small tubercles on the declivity. The declivity of the male also bears two large 
tridentate teeth at the outer apical angle (76). 
Courtesy Duke Univ. Sch. For. 
Figure 175.—Tunnels and larval cradles 
of the ambrosia beetle, Platypus 
compositus, in the wood of persimmon. 
376 
