Callidium violaceum

Violet beetle

Splendid, metallic colored beetle, size 8 to 18 mm. The female lays eggs in crevices in the bark - they prefer timber with bark. Larvae are 16 to 26 mm in size, excavate expanding corridors under the bark, later on they pupate in the wood. Larvae development takes from 1 to 3 years. This species is a common pest in a wood warehouses, where it attacks timber stored with bark. If timber is debarked, such a wood is not attacked.

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Symptom

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Splendid, metallic colored beetle. Creamy white larvae feeding under the bark in the corridor cut a few millimeters into the wood and later go to pupate chamber through a hook corridor 1 to 4 cm into the wood. The whitish crumbs have the form of semolina with small dark grains of dung. Excavation holes are elliptical.

Tree Species: Pine, Fir, Spruce, Larch

Part of a plant- attacked: Tree trunk, Branch

Pest significance: Harmful

Pest Category: Insects

Invasive Species: No

Pest group: Insect

Affected part of wood: Sapwood

Depth of damages: Bark, Under bark only, Up to 0,5 cm depth, Up to 2 cm depth, Up to 5 cm depth

The extent of damage: Whole trunk

Prevalence in Europe: Very common

Damaged products: Firewood, Fresh timber logs (water still in the sapwood), Furniture, Lumber, boards and prisms, Wooden house constructions

Roundwood size: Branches and twigs, Diameter 50+, Diameter from 10 up to 50 cm, Diameter up to 10 cm