Pityogenes chalcographus

The beetle’s body is short, cylindrical, brown-black (black pronotum, brownish elytra) and glossy. This beetle is rather small for bark beetles, being only 1.6–2.8 mm long. The adults of the first generation occur in spring – April and May. The male is joined in the nuptial chamber by 3–6 females that, after mating, bore radial star shaped maternal galleries. The nuptial chamber is hidden in the bark and is not visible in the wood, which makes the insect galleries distinct from those of similar species. There are 2 or 3 generations in a year. The pest invades thinner barked trunks, branches and tops of felled, windthrown or weakened trees. In case of outbreak it may become a primary killer of even healthy trees in stands aged between 10 and 40 years. Often shares its habitat with the eighttoothed spruce bark beetle.