Cryptic Species Discrimination in Western Pine Beetle, Dendroctonus brevicomis LeConte (Curculionidae: Scolytinae), Based on Morphological Characters and Geometric Morphometrics

The western pine beetle (WPB), Dendroctonus brevicomis LeConte, is a major mortality agent of pines in North America. A total of 706 adults of WPB from 81 geographical sites were analyzed with traditional and geometric morphometric methods to evaluate the variation of discrete and quantitative morphological characters with particular attention to the antenna, spermatheca, and seminal rod. Principal coordinates and canonical variate analyses...