Bark beetle larvae make these galleries directly under the bark as they feed on the inner bark. The main line that follows the grain is the chamber that eggs are laid in, and the radiating lines are larval feeding tunnels.
The galleries look like fine carving and can be very intricate and attractive, but they're not always a good thing. Generally, bark beetles are important for forest renewal as they attack dead or dying trees, but some are disease vectors and spread things like Dutch Elm Disease.
The galleries are still cool, though.
6 comments:
This was visually awesome and intellectually stimulating. Thanks!
A beautiful picture and an interesting piece of information!
Nice take on the word for the week. I like seeing the picture and reading the information.
Hi Deeol.
Thanks for your comments in my blog. You have very interesting illustrations. For sure, your artistic skills are very useful for your professional activities.
The great naturalists in history were also great illustrators in the pre-photo times. :)
I regularly visit Shrubbery from IF and always love your posts and your artwork. Lovely work x
Cool! I've seen that before and didn't know what caused it.
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