Boring Insects - Boring Insects

General Description

Many species of boring insects attack the trunk, stems, bark, buds and roots of woody ornamental plants and trees in the nursery and landscape. Some bore deeply into the wood (buprestid, cerambycid and ambrosia beetles), many bore just under the bark (dogwood borer, elm borer and bark beetles). There are twig beetles which are found only in smaller terminal branches (black twig beetles and dogwood twig borer). Others attack the wood near ground level as well as the roots (magnolia borer). The giant palm weevil feeds in the buds of palms.
The two major groups of boring insects attacking woody plants include various beetles and clear-wing moths. The primary families of beetles include Cerambycidae (long-horn or round-headed borers), Buprestidae (metallic wood borers or flat-headed borers) and Scolytidae (bark beetles, wood-boring bark beetles and ambrosia beetles). The clear-wing moths all belong to the family Sesiidae.

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