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spruce beetle

American  

noun

  1. a beetle, Dendroctonus rufipennis, that feeds on and nests in spruce, pine, and other evergreen trees, sometimes causing extensive damage.

Example Sentences

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Commercial spruce have long been planted next to such woods, and every time a tree hosting spruce beetle is found, it and neighbouring, sometimes ancient trees, have to be removed.

From BBC • Aug. 30, 2025

Thus, woodpeckers are the primary control of the Engelmann spruce beetle, reducing its populations from 45 to 98 per cent and are important in the control of the codling moth in apple orchards.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

The Engelmann spruce beetle has devastated many forests of the Rocky Mountains.

From The School Book of Forestry by Pack, Charles Lathrop

The eastern spruce beetle has destroyed countless feet of spruce.

From The School Book of Forestry by Pack, Charles Lathrop

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.