23.01. Crypturgus cinereus (Herbst, 1794)

Ecology and presence in Slovenia

The species is distributed in Europe, the former Yugoslavia, Corsica, the Caucasus, Asia Minor and Siberia. It inhabits the northern part of Slovenia, and is particularly common around Kranj, where it is often caught in traps (Figure 88). Hosts include Pinus halepensis, P. heldreichii, P. nigra, P. strobus, P. pinaster, P. pinea, P. mugo, P. sylvestris, Picea abies, P. obovata, P. orientalis, Abies alba, A. sibirica, and Juniperus spp.. Monogamous, it develops two generations per year, swarming in April and May. The tunnel system is irregularly shaped, the maternal galleries an extension of the maternal gallery of a larger bark beetle that has previously colonised the host tree. C. cinereus (and other species in this genus) are therefore also called “space parasites”. In Slovenia, the species has been found only on P. abies, where it extended the tunnel systems of the Ips typographus, Pityogenes chalcographus and Polygraphus poligraphus. The body is black to brown, matt. Adult length is 1.1-1.3 mm, the largest specimens may reach 1.4-1.6 mm. The neck shield is distinctly reticulate (Figure 87). As a distinctly secondary species, it only colonises dying and dead trees that have already been destroyed by other bark beetles and is therefore of no economic importance. C. cinereus is an important decomposer of dead trees as a secondary saproxyle.