Ips beetles are second only to the southern pine beetle in the number of trees killed by southern forest insects . Ips beetles attack the major pine species grown in the South. Depending upon which of the four Ips species are involved, an infestation is initiated by adults attacking the tree trunk, the trunk and scaffold limbs or only scaffold limbs. Often, the first recognized sign of attack is yellowing or reddening of needles in tree crowns. Other signs of attack include the formation of amber, popcorn-shaped pitch tubes on the tree trunk, or if the tree is severely stressed, only the presence of small boring holes and brown boring dust found in bark crevices and on spider webs resulting from adults boring through the tree bark.
Ips beetles are one of three major groups of important pine bark beetles in the South.
Male Ips beetles initiate attack by boring through the bark and constructing mating chambers. Egg galleries radiate out from the mating chamber with eggs being deposited at regular intervals along the sides of the galleries. The galleries usually groove the sapwood and are generally free of boring dust. Ips beetles introduce blue stain fungus into egg galleries on which larvae feed and which will ultimately cause the death of the tree. Once Ips beetles successfully attack a tree and construct egg galleries the tree usually cannot be saved, even if treated with an insecticide to kill the larvae.