Tomicus piniperda (Coleoptera : Scolytidae): Is shoot-feeding required forreproductive maturation

The pine shoot beetle, Tomicus piniperda (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), is a uni voltine pest of pine in its native range of Europe and Asia. Tomicus pinipe rda is now widely established in the Great Lakes region and poses a potenti ally significant threat to other pine-producing areas in North America. An unusual aspect of the life history of T. piniperda is the extended period o f maturation-feeding that takes place in the shoots of living pine trees an d subsequent overwintering before adults reproduce the following year. We i nvestigated the extent to which shoot-feeding is required by newly-emerged T. piniperda before introduction into Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris) logs a nd before any overwintering, in order for successful reproduction to occur. Tomicus piniperda Fl adults successfully reproduced in pine logs in the la boratory after either no shoot-feeding or after 2 to 10 weeks of shoot-feed ing. Thus, it is theoretically possible for T. piniperda to be multivoltine , yet it remains univoltine.