A Device for Measuring the Oviposition Potential of a Bark Beetle Parasite

Abstract

Some bark beetle parasites insert their ovipositors through the bark of trees to lay their eggs on their hosts. To be parasitized, therefore, host insects must be beneath a thickness of bark less than the parasite ovipositor length. Bark thickness varies at different heights in a tree, but even at a given height the thickness is not uniform because of the fissures. The percentage of bark beetles parasitized by this type of parasite at a given height in a tree is influenced by the percentage of the bark which has a thickness less than the parasite ovipositor length.