Successful colonization, reproduction, and new generation emergence in live interior hybrid spruce Picea engelmannii × glauca by mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae

Abstract 1 Although mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins are able to utilize most available Pinus spp. as hosts, successful colonization and reproduction in other hosts within the Pinaceae is rare. 2 We observed successful reproduction of mountain pine beetle and emergence of new generation adults from interior hybrid spruce Picea engelmannii × glauca and compared a number of parameters related to colonization and reproductive success in spruce with nearby lodgepole pine Pinus contorta infested by mountain pine beetle. 3 The results obtained indicate that reduced competition in spruce allowed mountain pine beetle parents that survived the colonization process to produce more offspring per pair than in more heavily‐infested nearby pine. 4 We also conducted an experiment in which 20 spruce and 20 lodgepole pines were baited with the aggregation pheromone of mountain pine beetle. Nineteen pines (95%) and eight spruce (40%) were attacked by mountain pine beetle, with eight (40%) and three (15%) mass‐attacked, respectively. 5 Successful attacks on nonhost trees during extreme epidemics may be one mechanism by which host shifts and subsequent speciation events have occurred in Dendroctonus spp. bark beetles.