Back

Ambrosia beetle

Xyleborus ferrugineus

Classification

Class
Insecta

Ambrosia beetles are beetles of the weevil subfamilies Scolytinae and Platypodinae (Coleoptera, Curculionidae), which live in nutritional symbiosis with ambrosia fungi. The beetles excavate tunnels in dead or stressed trees into which they introduce fungal gardens, their sole source of nutrition. After landing on a suitable tree, an ambrosia beetle excavates a tunnel in which it releases its fungal symbiont.

Distribution

(c) Sam Kieschnick, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY
Loading map…
Countries in the Picchu catalog
Peru · 2