This study aimed to evaluate the degradation caused by Scolytidae in wood of six arboreal essences, Clitoria fairchildiana Howard, Samanea saman (Jacq.) Merr, Mimosa caesalpiniaefolia Benth, Eucalyptus citriodora Hook, Lophantera lactescens Ducke and Gmelina arborea Roxb. The field experiment was accomplished in the sub-forest of a forest fragment in the campus of the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro from September, 1998 to April, 1999. Five samples of each essence were exposed to the action of Scolytidae, disposing them in perpendicular position in relation to the soil. Six weekly preliminary observations were made in the 30 samples and the infestation was evaluated. Later on, a subsample of each essence was removed biweekly for evaluation in laboratory of the perforations and galleries done by adults of the family Scolytidae, besides the number of larvas. Twenty species were collected, distributed in ten genus: Ambrosiodmus,Coccotrypes, Coptoborus,Cryptocarenus,Hypothenemus,Premnobius, Theoborus,Xyleborinus, Xyleborus and Xylosandrus. The wood of the essences C. fairchildiana and S. saman were the more attacked, mainly for Hypothenemus eruditus Westwood and for species of the tribe Xyleborini. The reduction of the number of adults and larvas of Scolytidae went directly proportional at the time of exhibition of the samples. The wood with smaller physiologic reaction of the peel to the court were more quickly degraded by the beetles. Further studies are necessary to determine the nature of the compounds emitted by these wood species that turn them more attractive than other when exposed in the same conditions.
Insecta; wood-borer beetles; biodegradation; field test; susceptibility
