Mountain Pine Beetle vs Large Bloody-nosed Beetle

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Mountain Pine Beetle Large Bloody-nosed Beetle
Scientific Name Dendroctonus ponderosae Timarcha goettingensis
Order Coleoptera Coleoptera
Family Curculionidae Chrysomelidae
Size 4-7 mm 8-13 mm
Habitat Forests Meadows
Diet Wood Feeders Herbivores
Regions North America Central and Western Europe
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Mountain Pine Beetle

A small dark brown bark beetle that bores into pine trees to lay eggs beneath the bark. Massive outbreaks have devastated millions of hectares of North American forests.

💡

Did You Know?

Mountain pine beetles carry blue stain fungi that block water transport in trees, turning the wood a distinctive blue-gray color.

Large Bloody-nosed Beetle

A somewhat smaller relative of Timarcha tenebricosa, with a similarly rounded, convex, black body and fused wing cases. It shares the characteristic reflex bleeding behavior of its genus.

💡

Did You Know?

Adults are entirely flightless because their hind wings have been completely reduced and their elytra are fused together.