''Euplatypus parallelus'', previously known as ''Platypus parallelus'', is a species of

ambrosia beetle 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, stressed, and healthy trees in which t ...

in the

weevil Weevils are beetles belonging to the superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small, less than in length, and herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. They belong to several families, ...

family Curculionidae. The adults and larvae form galleries in various species of tree and logs. It is native to Central and South America but has spread globally, is present in Africa and is well established in tropical Asia.

Description

Adult beetles are between in length and are a yellowish-brown to brown colour, the elytra having darker brown tips. The holes excavated by the adults and larvae are about in diameter.

Distribution and habitat

''Euplatypus parallelus'' is native to Central and South America, but has spread invasively to Africa, tropical southern Asia, Wallacea and New Guinea, probably via timber imports. It arrived in Africa in the late 1800s and was first recorded in Asia after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, became widespread in Sri Lanka in the 1970s and was present in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia by the 1980s. It soon became the most significant ambrosia beetle in Thailand, attacking both living trees, typically stressed or diseased specimens, and recently fallen or cut timber. It has been reported in over 80 species of tree from 25 families, including live

rubber trees ''Hevea brasiliensis'', the Pará rubber tree, ''sharinga'' tree, seringueira, or most commonly, rubber tree or rubber plant, is a flowering plant belonging to the spurge family Euphorbiaceae originally native to the Amazon basin, but is now pan ...

in Brazil and Indian rosewood in Bangladesh. The first recordings from China were made on

Hainan Island Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slight ...

in 2016.

Ecology

The male beetle excavates a short tunnel in the bark of the host tree or log and then releases a

pheromone A pheromone () is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavio ...

on the surface which attracts a female. After mating, the female enters the tunnel and creates an extensive series of galleries in which the eggs are laid. Like other ambrosia beetles, the adults carry with them a fungal culture with which they inoculate the walls of the galleries; the female and developing larvae feed exclusively on the

mycelia Mycelium (plural mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other substrates. A typical single spore germinates in ...

of this cultivated fungal garden. The wood beside the galleries is blackened by the fungus and

frass Frass refers loosely to the more or less solid excreta of insects, and to certain other related matter. Definition and etymology ''Frass'' is an informal term and accordingly it is variously used and variously defined. It is derived from the G ...

is pushed out of the entrance hole in long strings. After

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

tion, the new adults emerge into the open through the original entrance hole. The beetles sometimes introduce

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a ger ...

ic fungi into the tree and have been implicated in transmitting ''

Fusarium ''Fusarium'' is a large genus of filamentous fungi, part of a group often referred to as hyphomycetes, widely distributed in soil and associated with plants. Most species are harmless saprobes, and are relatively abundant members of the soil ...

'', the cause of a wilt disease, in southern Asia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q50389376 Platypodinae Beetles of Africa Beetles of Asia Beetles of Central America Beetles of South America Beetles described in 1801 Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius