Beetle Facts

Responding to the Epidemic

The Latin name for the mountain pine beetle is Dendroctonus ponderosae.
The life span of an individual mountain pine beetle is about one year.
Pine beetle larvae spend the winter under bark. They continue to feed in the spring and transform into pupae in June and July.
Adult mountain pine beetles emerge from an infested tree over the course of the summer and into early fall.
The mountain pine beetle transmits a fungus that stains a tree's sapwood blue.
Comprehensive testing has confirmed that the blue stain caused by the beetle has no effect on wood's strength properties.
Video clip on life cycle and infestation causes. New!

The mountain pine beetle prefers mature timber. After 80 years, lodgepole pine trees are generally classed as being mature.
B.C. is believed to have three times more mature lodgepole pine than it did over 90 years ago, mainly because equipment and techniques for protecting forests against wildfire have greatly improved over time
Hot and dry summers leave pine drought-stressed and more susceptible to attack by the mountain pine beetle.

Cold weather kills the mountain pine beetle. Mountain pine beetle eggs, pupae and young larve are the most susceptible to freezing temperatures.
In the winter, temperatures must consistently be below -35 Celsius or -40 Celsius for several straight days to kill off large portions of mountain pine beetle populations.
In the early fall or late spring, sustained temperatures of -25 Celsius can freeze mountain pine beetle populations to death.
A sudden cold snap is more lethal in the fall, before the mountain pine beetles are able to build up their natural anti-freeze (glycerol) levels.
Cold weather is also more effective before it snows. A deep layer of snow on the ground can help insulate mountain pine beetles in the lower part of the tree against outside temperatures.
Wind chill affects mountain pine beetles, but is usually not sustained long enough to significantly increase winter mortality.

The cumulative area of B.C. affected to some degree (red-attack and grey-attack) is estimated at 13 million hectares.
- 13 million hectares is about four times the size of Vancouver Island.
- Newly attacked trees turn red about one year after infestation. Trees stay in the red-attack stage for one to two years before turning grey as they lose their needles.
The mountain pine beetle in B.C. is as far-ranging as Fort St. John to the north, the Alberta border to the east, Terrace to the west, and the United States border to the south.
The direction and spread rate of a beetle infestation is impossible to predict exactly.
In addition to B.C. and Alberta, the mountain pine beetle can be found in 12 western American states, and even Mexico.

last updated: January 2008