Bark and Ambrosia Beetles of the U.S. and Canada: Overview
Introduction
There are 590 species of bark and ambrosia beetles known from the U.S. and Canada (Curculionidae: Scolytinae and Platypodinae). Of this total 65 have been introduced from other continents, many in recent years. Wood's Monograph of the bark and ambrosia beetles of North America (1982) has been the benchmark used for this group (Scolytinae) although it is rapidly becoming out of date. The 7 species of Platypodinae have not been treated for the U.S. and Canada in nearly 100 years. Wood included 516 species of Scolytinae in 1982. Since that time 67 species have been added to the fauna due to new introductions, newly described species, and new detections of naturally occurring species in southern Florida, Texas and Arizona (in addition to exotic species). There have also been numerous changes in generic assignments.
Wood and Bright (1992) published a World catalog that included many updates to Wood's monograph. Bright and Skidmore (1997, 2002) have published supplements to the catalog. Even so, it has become very difficult, even for specialists, to keep track of the current species and their nomenclature.
Objectives and Features
This interactive catalog and atlas includes all published data on distribution, hosts, and synonymy for all native and exotic species. Complete information on distribution, hosts, and synonymy from outside the U.S. is included for introduced species. All localities within the New World have been georeferenced and are shown on maps for each species. Localities outside the New World are listed, but not mapped.
In part, this website can be treated as a partial replacement for the World catalog and supplements for species known from the U.S. and Canada for synonymy, hosts, and distributions. It also includes other features not found in the catalogs such as images (photographs and line drawings), interactive maps, and access to the data from which these maps are drawn. On the other hand the catalog and supplements contain other information that is not included here such as details on nomenclature and references. The information shown on this website is derived from a large database which is constantly being expanded, corrected, and maintained.
Status
These pages are still under development. At the moment this checklist is based on 2,690 distribution and/or host records. All distribution, hosts, and synonymy information is complete for Wood's (1982) monograph and taxonomic publications for the North and Central American fauna since 1982. There are still some South American data on localities, hosts, and synonyms for North American species listed in Wood (2007). This should be finished in early 2013. In November, 2012 approximately 11,000 distribution records for 287 species were added from the trap results of the USFS Early Detection-Rapid Response program from 2006-2011. In 2013 I am hoping to add photographs and or line drawings for all species found in the U.S. and Canada, include more biological and ecological information, and to extend coverage to Mexico.
Inevitably there will be errors and omissions. I would appreciate it if these are brought to my attention.
Access to Species Information
Information on individual species can be accesed through 3 routes:
- condensed taxonomic list. For those familiar with the higher classification of the group, the condensed taxonomic list allows a quick lookup. Clicking on names of tribes, subtribes, and genera will expand (or close) sublists down to the species level.
- checklist of the species of the U.S. and Canada. For those with some familiarity with the classification, but need a little help, there is a checklist of the species of the U.S. and Canada showing all 590 species that the user can scroll through.
- alphabetical Index. It may be easier in some cases just to look up a species in the alphabetical Index. The index includes all currently accepted names as well as all synonyms of which I am aware. This means that even if you can't keep up with all of the name changes, you should still be able to find your beetle.
Species Information
Clicking on the book icon () will bring up the species information. There are separate sections for images (if any are available), synonymy, a summary of distribution records from the database, a summary of host and trapping information from database records, a list of references from which information was taken for the species, a distribution map, and a table of data records. In the references section, links are provided to the pages in the Wood monograph and in the Wood & Bright catalog where the species is treated.