Pine Engraver Beetles in the Low Elevation Sonoran Desert

Pine engraver beetle refers to 11 species of insects (in the Ips genus) living in the inner bark of Arizona’s conifers that can cause rapid decline and tree death. Typically, the beetles are found at higher elevations (4200 feet to 9000 feet), but have recently been detected at about 2400 feet, in Tucson. The six-spined engraver (Ips calligraphus ponderosae) has been the only species detected, so far, in Tucson. This is the first time these native bark beetles have been found in non-native pines in the Sonoran Desert.