Black spruce barbel: small and large pests of vegetation
A real pest of a coniferous forest can be called a spruce barbel. This is one of the representatives of the biological group of parasites that live in the forest. The activities of Monochamus lead to the death of trees and the loss of the technical qualities of lumber.
Content
Description of the spruce
The body of the mustache has an elongated shape. The coloring is dark. The mustache is long and thin. The elytra taper towards the end. They have a rounded shape. The oral apparatus is well developed. The size varies from 1,4 cm to 3,7 cm. There are two main types, which are divided according to size.
Life cycle of spruce barbs
Black mustaches.
Under favorable conditions, the formation of an insect takes 2 years. In other cases, up to 3 years. The appearance of the first individuals occurs at the end of spring. However, the largest population is observed in June.
Beetles need additional nutrition in the form of young twigs and needles before mating. Fertilized females make marks on the bark. In these notches they make a laying of white oblong eggs.
The larvae are engaged in the construction of passages in the bark. With the advent of cold weather, they begin to delve into the wood. Warts help the larvae to move. The place of pupation is a special recess with sawdust.
Spruce barbel habitat
Pests live in all European countries, as well as Korea, Mongolia and Japan. The western borders pass at the level of Finland and Sweden, the eastern - Sakhalin and Kamchatka. Spruce barbels can live in both coniferous and mixed forests. The main condition is the predominance of fir and spruce.
Methods of control and prevention
To get rid of parasites you need:
- attract swallows and woodpeckers - natural enemies of barbels;
Spruce mustache.
- carry out timely sanitary felling of weakened trees;
- prepare hunting trees - special trunks of fir or spruce, on which larvae are lured and destroyed before penetrating deep;
- apply insecticides;
- quickly process and properly store lumber.
Conclusion
The larvae of the spruce barbel feed on wood and gradually destroy the trees. This leads to a decrease in vegetation in the forest. They also spread parasitic plant-eating worms. Therefore, it is very important to start pest control in time to save the forest.
