Phloeosinus armatus Reitter, 1887

Beaver, Roger A., Ghahari, Hassan & Sanguansub, Sunisa, 2016, An annotated checklist of Platypodinae and Scolytinae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) from Iran, Zootaxa 4098 (3), pp. 401-441 : 415

Phloeosinus armatus Reitter, 1887

Distribution in Iran. East Azarbaijan ( Samin et al. 2011).

General distribution. Eastern Mediterranean from Italy to Syria and Israel. Established in California, USA.

Biology. Recorded in Iran from its usual host, Cupressus sempervirens (Cupressaceae) ( Samin et al. 2011). The biology and gallery system is described by Browne (1968). The species breeds in fallen branches and dying or dead trees, but maturation feeding by the young adults in green twigs can cause damage to healthy trees ( Browne 1968; Ciesla et al. 2011). Mendel (1986) records several species of hymenopterous parasitoids. Pennacchio et al. (2013) suggest that it may be involved in the transmission of the cypress canker fungus, Seiridium cardinale . Mendel (1983b) suggests the use of pruned trap logs to control the species.