Pest Profile Photo credit: Natasha Wright, Cook's Pest Control, Bugwood.org licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Common Name: Hickory bark beetle Scientific Name: Scolytus quadrispinosus Say Order and Family: Coleoptera, Curculionidae (Subfamily: Scolytidae) Size and Appearance: Length (mm) Appearance ellipsoidal Egg cream colored short curved or slightly c-shaped legless Larva/Nymph 5 – 8 yellowish white wrinkled short stout thickly cylindrical black to reddish brown almost hairless Adult 2.9 – 5 front tibiae have a short-curved spine or hook males – venter (underside of the abdomen) is deeply excavated; third abdominal segment armed with three spines females – venter (underside of the abdomen) less deeply excavated and without spines very compact Pupa (if fragile applicable) white Type of feeder (Chewing, sucking, etc.): Chewing mouthparts Host plant/s: Hickory, pecan, butternut. Prefers hickories, with shagbark and bitternut hickories listed most often in the literature. Description of Damage (larvae and adults): Adults feed in terminal growth, and larvae tunnel in trunks and large branches. Newly emerged adults feed on twigs in the crown throughout summer. They make short food tunnels in twigs, mainly at the base of axillary buds and leaves. Heavy twig feeding may cause yellowish and premature dropping of leaves and broken twigs scattered over the crown but rarely seriously weaken the tree. The foliage of heavily infested trees turns yellow and then red within weeks of attack, and finally brown as the tree succumbs. Trees stressed and weak from drought, fire, storm damage, disease, or other causes are most susceptible. Reference: Barnd, B. (2007) Species Scolytus quadrispinosus - Hickory Bark BeetlE. Retrieved from https://bugguide.net/node/view/122189. Solomon, J. D. (1995). Guide to insect borers in North American broadleaf trees and shrubs. Agriculture Handbook (Washington), (AH-706). .