T. 22-punctata
         C. 7-punctata
         C. tenebrionis
         O. nasicornis
         C. aurata
         C. aeruginosa
         E. pareyssei
         E. faber
         C. cordigera

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Unless otherwise noted, all pictures on this site were taken in Pelion, Greece, shown on the map below.

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View images of the Common Toad, an ugly, bulky, but really sweet creature with an interesting... nightlife.

  Veggie of the Month

Learn about the Salsify, a beautiful plant, with edible and medicinal properties, that is currently blooming in Pelion.

  Cool Destination

Visit Mourtias, one of Pelion's most picturesque beaches on the Aegean coast.

  Exciting Site

Tour the Volos Archaeological Museum, a pretty century-old building, whose exhibits span a historical period of over 10 millennia!

  Month's Wallpaper

Download a fantastic picture of a rickety jetty in Lefokastron, Pelion, taken by Huw Jones.

Loading image. Please wait Flatheaded Woodborer (Capnodis tenebrionis) :: 2001/07/28 :: Horton :: © A.Papadopoulos Flatheaded Woodborer (Capnodis tenebrionis) :: 2001/07/28 :: Horton :: © A.Papadopoulos No image! No image! No image!

Flatheaded Woodborer

Capnodis tenebrionis

A really handsome, bullet-shaped beetle, between 15 and 25 mm (5/8 - 1 in) in length, with a sharply pointed rear. It features a gray and black  pronotum, and black  elytra speckled with white. It flies in the sunshine and is often seen on flowers.  Larvae, which are flattened and tadpole-shaped, with a fairly broad  thorax, live mainly under bark and can cause significant damage.

It is noteworthy that Capnodis tenebrionis has been recognized as an important pest of cultivated stone-fruits (Prunus spp.) since the mid-eighteenth century. The insect occurs widely in northern Africa, in southern and central Europe, the Near East and around the Black and Caspian Seas. Damage caused by C. tenebrionis has been reported mainly from southern European and Mediterranean areas and has resulted in mortality of most cultivated stone-fruits – almond (P. amygdalus), apricot (P. armeniaca), cherry (P. vulgaris), nectarine and peach (P. persica) and plum (P. domestica and other plum species). In fact, in the 1970s, C. tenebrionis caused catastrophic damage and loss of stone-fruit plantations, especially apricot, in southern Spain.

Adults of Capnodis feed on the cortex of twigs and young branches and  oviposit on the ground, usually into cracks of dry soil or under stones. On the average, one female lays more than 1000 eggs during her life span, which may be longer than a year. Adult beetles become active during the warm months. The species is highly thermophilic and prefers dry sites for oviposition. The neonates penetrate the roots and feed on the root cortex. The development period lasts between 6 and 18 months, depending on ambient temperatures and on rootstock species.

One-year-old seedlings are killed by single larvae; a few larvae can lead to the death of an adult tree within one or two years. Weakened trees are preferred for adult feeding and oviposition. Natural arthropod enemies of Capnodis are rare, although ants may prey on eggs and neonates. Thus, except for the use of resistant rootstocks (used in some orchards in Israel) and a change in irrigation management, chemical control has been the only means of managing Capnodis populations.

Since the 1940s, with the introduction of synthetic insecticides and the use of some nonselective compounds, such as chlordane, heptachlor or dieldrin, outbreaks in many areas were drastically reduced for several decades. Insecticide applications were directed against emerging adults on stem and foliage, to kill the adults while feeding on the cortex of twigs and small branches. Other reports, mainly from North Africa, suggest that insecticide application on the soil surface kills the eggs or neonates, thus preventing root infestation. However, due to complex adverse effects of the above insecticides and their high residue level, their use was abandoned. In Morocco, for example, these compounds were not recommended due to the objections of the consumers of stone-fruits exported to western Europe.

The individual depicted above was photographed on an okra stem, in Horto. It only let me take one picture, then engaged in a hide-and-seek game: first, it shifted around the stem, exactly opposite to where I was standing, and every time I moved it did too, always keeping the stem between its body and myself. Apparently, it got bored after a while and flew away, towards the bright sun.

I had never noticed this insect prior to taking the photograph and though it was fairly uncommon in Pelion. However, in the summer of 2002, I came across an apple tree, in an orchard, in Horto, which was practically infested with Flatheaded Woodborers. There were some 10 individuals occupying various parts of the tree, from the bottom of its trunk all the way up to its lowest branches. Unlike the first insect I had encountered, they were all very docile and unmoving. I checked on the tree regularly thereafter and there were always varying numbers of beetles present throughout the summer, until around mid September.

I returned to the same apple-tree the next year to capture some more pictures, but it had been chopped down. I asked my father-in-law, who owned the tree, what had happened and he told me that the roots had rotted because of the excessive rainfall we had had the previous winter. However, I strongly suspect that the Flatheaded Woodborers had something to do with the tree's demise.

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Fact Sheet

Food
Host plant.

Active
June - September, probably other months.

Habitat
Usually associated with blackthorn and other Prunus species. Larvae live in the older stems.

Distribution
Throughout most of Europe, incl. Britain.


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Taxonomy


Superkingdom: Eukaryota; Kingdom: Metazoa; Phylum: Arthropoda; Superclass: Hexapoda; Superclass: Hexapoda; Class: Insecta; Subclass: Neoptera; Order: Coleoptera; Family: Buprestidae; Genus: Capnodis; Species: tenebrionis

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References

The information contained on this page, was obtained from the following sources:

• S. Ben-Yehuda et al. (2000). Improved Chemical Control of Capnodis tenebrionis and C. carbonaria in Stone-Fruit Plantations in Israel. Phytoparasitica 28(1):1-16
• CHINERY, M., 1993. Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain & Western Europe. Domino Books, Jersey.