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Please help identify this beetle.
Dear Bugman,
I found this beetle on February 22, 2007 in West Chester, Pennsylvania under the bark of a Pecan (Carya illinoensis). The bark had been torn (or pecked) off by birds I believe, which made it obvious. There was a 3 inch wide by 20 foot long section of bark missing. The beetle was under the bark, and tiny holes in the bark were present. I did not find any galleries into the wood. The pecan, although still dormant, appeared in perfect health otherwise. I’ve searched ‘Insects that Feed on Trees and Shrubs’ by Johnson and Lyon, as well as, your website. The closest guess I could make would be a type of shot hole borer, but I wasn’t confident of any specific match ups. The beetle is metallic green and approximately 3 mm long (regarding the images with the blue ruler, the numbers on the top of the ruler are centimeters). I took the images using a digital camera with 5 MP size photos. Thank you very much for your help. Sincerely,
Scott Lussier, President
Oakwood Tree Care Professionals, Inc.

Hi Scott,
This is some species of Flea Beetle. Flea Beetles are in the tribe Alticini and they are Skeletonizing Leaf Beetles. We can only guess they were hibernating under the bark. They will not harm the wood of the tree. We will check with Eric Eaton to see if he recognizes the species.

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