Mountain Pine Beetle vs Tooth-Necked Fungus Beetle

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute	Mountain Pine Beetle	Tooth-Necked Fungus Beetle
Scientific Name	Dendroctonus ponderosae	Bolitotherus cornutus
Order	Coleoptera	Coleoptera
Family	Curculionidae	Tenebrionidae
Size	4-7 mm	10-12 mm
Habitat	Forests	Woodlands
Diet	Wood Feeders	Fungus Feeders
Regions	North America	Eastern North America
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.

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Did You Know?

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

Tooth-Necked Fungus Beetle

A heavily armored, warty brown beetle that feeds on shelf fungi on dead trees. Males have two prominent horns on the thorax.

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Did You Know?

It plays dead so convincingly that it is nearly impossible to distinguish from a piece of bark.