Bug FAQPine Engraver
Ips pini · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Curculionidae
Source: Wikipedia
Adult pine engravers are tiny, only three to five millimetres long, sometimes reaching six millimetres. They live in North American conifer forests, preferring smaller trees that are stressed or dying, and they spread a fungus that damages the tree’s water transport.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Their wing covers have a concave rear edge with spines at the tip, and they are usually dark brown to black.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure about three to five millimetres, with some individuals up to six millimetres long.
Source: Wikipedia
Is it a pest in the house?
They mainly attack trees that are stressed, weakened, or near death. By spreading blue-stain fungus, they further damage the tree’s sapwood.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They are found in coniferous forests across North America, especially on trees 12 to 20 cm in diameter.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
They carry blue-stain fungus, which colonises sapwood and interferes with the host tree’s water transport.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The life cycle goes egg → larva → pupa → adult, lasting about eight weeks.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Males emerge in spring when it warms up and start boring into weakened trees.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Their range extends from Canada and Alaska down to northern Mexico.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
Populations are separated by geography and can be told apart by the specific mix of ipsdienol pheromone each produces.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 24 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Michigan, Minnesota, California, Vermont, Arizona, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Ohio.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
How can I tell pine engraver beetles apart from similar species?
They are distinguished by the unique blend of ipsdienol pheromone each geographic population produces.
Source: Wikipedia
When do pine engraver beetles become active?
Adult males appear in spring as temperatures rise and begin boring into stressed trees.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Curculionidae)
Green Immigrant Leaf WeevilPolydrusus formosusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Black Vine WeevilOtiorhynchus sulcatusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Nettle weevilPhyllobius pomaceusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Asian Oak WeevilCyrtepistomus castaneusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Strawberry Root WeevilOtiorhynchus ovatusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Common Leaf WeevilPhyllobius pyriDamages trees, gardens or cropsSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ips_pini
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.