The mountain pine beetle normally has a one-year life cycle. However, it may take two years to complete the life cycle in high elevation areas.
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Larvae
About two weeks after oviposition, white, grub-like larvae with brown heads hatch and mine new horizontal galleries. There they overwinter, protected from the cold temperatures by the bark. The beetle spends the winter in the larval stage underneath the bark, resumes feeding in spring and grows up to 7 mm in length.
Pupae
By late June to early July the larvae finish pupating in oval-shaped chambers at the end of narrow tunnels (larval galleries) and become adult beetles.
Adults
In mid-July to mid-August, the stout, black adults bore exit holes through the bark and fly to attack new trees. The female beetle releases an aggregate pheromone to initiate mass attack and releases a sex pheromone to attract males. Then, the females begin to tunnel through the bark and make vertical egg galleries.
Eggs
In the galleries, females mate with males in mid-summer and lay eggs individually along the sides of the gallery.
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