Xyleborus glabratus

Xyleborus glabratus is native to Asia, including India, Japan, Myanmar, and Taiwan.{{cite web |last1=Ellis |first1=A.M. |last2=Hodges |first2=A.C. |last3=Mayfield III |first3=A.E. |title=Xyleborus glabratus|url=https://wiki.bugwood.org/Xyleborus_glabratus |website=BugwoodWiki|publisher=Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health at the University of Georgia |access-date=22 November 2019}} It was first detected in the United States in 2002,{{cite web |last=Rabaglia |first=R. |date=2005 |title=Exotic Forest Pest Information System for North America. Xyleborus glabratus. |url=http://spfnic.fs.fed.us/exfor/data/pestreports.cfm?pestidval=148&langdisplay=english |access-date=27 April 2009 |archive-date=17 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217084719/http://spfnic.fs.fed.us/exfor/data/pestreports.cfm?pestidval=148&langdisplay=english |url-status=dead }} and may have arrived in wood products, packing materials or pallets. X. glabratus and laurel wilt disease have since spread through much of the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plains, ranging from eastern Texas and Arkansas to North Carolina, and in 2019 they were found in Kentucky and Tennessee.{{cite web |last1=USDA Forest Service |title=Distribution of Counties with Laurel Wilt |url=http://southernforesthealth.net/diseases/laurel-wilt/distribution-map |website=Southern Forest Health |publisher=Southern Regional Extension Forestry |access-date=22 November 2019}}

File:Xyleborus glabratus lateral view.jpg

File:Xyleborus glabratus declivity.jpg

The female redbay ambrosia beetle is a small (2.1 to 2.4 mm long), black or amber-brown, cigar-shaped beetle. The dorsal surface is mostly hairless and shiny when compared to other ambrosia beetles.{{cite journal |last1=Rabaglia |first1=R. J. |last2=Dole |first2=S. A. |last3=Cognato |first3=A. I. |year=2006 |title=Review of American Xyleborina (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) occurring north of Mexico, with an illustrated key. |journal=Annals of the Entomological Society of America |url=http://www.avocadosource.com/papers/research_articles/rabagliarobert2006.pdf |volume=99 |issue=6 |pages=1034–1056 |doi=10.1603/0013-8746(2006)99[1034:roaxcc]2.0.co;2|s2cid=85760478 }} They can be specifically identified by characters present on the elytral declivity, including its steep and convex shape when compared to other Xyleborus, and by the large size of indentations on the elytra.{{cite web |last=Rabaglia |first=R. |orig-year=2003a |year=2008 |title=Exotic Forest Pest Information System for North America: Xyleborus glabratus |publisher=North American Forest Commission. |url=http://spfnic.fs.fed.us/exfor/data/pestreports.cfm?pestidval=148&langdisplay=English |access-date=15 September 2010 |archive-date=17 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217084719/http://spfnic.fs.fed.us/exfor/data/pestreports.cfm?pestidval=148&langdisplay=english |url-status=dead }}

The larvae of the beetle are similar in appearance to others of the group, developing as a white and legless "worm" with an amber-colored head capsule. The pupae are whitish, exarate (with free appendages), and similar in size to the adult.{{cite journal |last1=Brar |first1=Gurpreet S. |last2=Capinera |first2=John |last3=Kendra |first3=Paul |last4=McLean |first4=Stephen |title=Life cycle, development, and culture of Xyleborus glabratus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) |journal=Florida Entomologist |date=2013 |volume=96 |issue=3 |pages=1158–1167 |doi=10.1653/024.096.0357 |s2cid=85794442 |doi-access=free }}

The redbay ambrosia beetle is believed to originate from Asia or southeast Asia. Males are haploid, smaller in size, and flightless. The beetle's biology is poorly documented, but presumed to be similar to that of other ambrosia beetles, with larvae and adults feeding on the symbiotic fungus it carries with it, and not the wood of the host tree. The spores of the fungus are carried in mycangia at the base of each mandible.{{cn|date=December 2022}}

Larval development time takes from fifty to sixty days. Studied populations increase steadily in size until late summer and early fall without distinct population peaks, leading researchers to believe that there are overlapping generations with year-round reproduction for the insect.

The redbay ambrosia beetle can spread in at least two ways: one is via the beetle's natural reproduction and migration. A second way is through the sale and transport of beetle-infested wood, a result of redbay's use as firewood and for outdoor grilling.{{cite web |url=http://www.mfc.state.ms.us/pdf/PressReleases/2009/Laurel_Wilt.pdf |title=Disease Killing Redbay Trees Makes First Appearance in Mississippi |publisher=Mississippi Department of Agriculture |date=12 August 2009}}

The beetle was first detected in the United States in 2002, in Port Wentworth, Georgia. It has been suggested that this insect was introduced to the country on the wood of packing crates.{{cite journal |last=Haack |first=R.A. |year=2003 |title=Intercepted Scolytidae (Coleoptera) at U.S. ports of entry: 1985–2000 |journal=Integrated Pest Management Reviews 6: 253–282 (2001)}} The significance of these detections became apparent when the beetle was linked to and identified as the vector of laurel wilt, a fungal disease that had been killing large numbers of redbay trees.{{cite journal |last1=Fraedrich |first1=S. W. |first2=T. C. |last2=Harrington |first3=R. J. |last3=Rabaglia |first4=M. D. |last4=Ulyshen |first5=A. E. |last5=Mayfield III |first6=J. L. |last6=Hanula |first7=J. M. |last7=Eickwort |first8=D. R. |last8=Miller |year=2008 |title=A fungal symbiont of the redbay ambrosia beetle causes a lethal wilt in redbay and other Lauraceae in the southeastern USA. |journal=Plant Dis. |volume=92 |issue=2 |pages=215–224|doi=10.1094/PDIS-92-2-0215 |pmid=30769391 |doi-access= }} The fungus grows throughout the xylem of the tree, preventing the flow of water and nutrients throughout the plant. Host tree death can occur from four to eleven weeks after inoculation.{{cite journal |last1=Mayfield |first1=AE |last2=Pena |first2=JE |last3=Crane |first3=JH |last4=Smith |first4=JA |last5=Branch |first5=CL |last6=Ottoson |first6=ED |last7=Hughes |first7=M. |year=2008 |title=Ability of the redbay ambrosia beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) to bore into young avocado (Lauraceae) plants and transmit the laurel wilt pathogen (Raffaelea sp.) |journal=Florida Entomologist |volume=91 |issue=3 |pages=485–487 |doi=10.1653/0015-4040(2008)91[485:aotrab]2.0.co;2|doi-access=free }}

• Ambrosia beetle
• Euwallacea fornicatus
• Laurel wilt disease
• Forest pathology

{{reflist}}

• https://web.archive.org/web/20090616173240/http://www.fs.fed.us:80/r8/foresthealth/laurelwilt/index.shtml
• https://web.archive.org/web/20090722014653/http://www.doacs.state.fl.us:80/pi/enpp/ento/x.glabratus.html
• More [http://www.forestryimages.org/search/action.cfm?q=redbay%20ambrosia%20beetle images]
• [http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/trees/beetles/redbay_ambrosia_beetle.htm Xyleborus glabratus] on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
• [http://www.dontmovefirewood.org/blog/farewell-taco-topping.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422080021/http://www.dontmovefirewood.org/blog/farewell-taco-topping.html |date=22 April 2012 }} "Farewell to taco topping?" – [Ambrosia beetle] spreads Laurel Wilt

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Category:Woodboring beetles

Category:Scolytinae

Category:Beetles of Asia

Category:Insect vectors of plant pathogens

Category:Beetles described in 1877