Xyleborinus saxesenii (Ratzeburg)

Wood, 1982: This species breeds in the bole, limbs, and larger branches of trees in wet, tropical, lowland areas. Wood, 2007: Boring i wood of logs in a forest. Felled, broken, damaged, and unthrifty stems ranging in diameter from about 3 cm to more than 3 m are selected for attack. In broken or felled stems the attack may be massive and encompass most or all of the sapwood within a few days. The galleries are usually of a simple branching type that may join other similar galleries of the same species. Eggs are usually placed in clusters at or near the end of branch tunnels. The larvae feed on the mycelium of ambrosial fungi, then pupate in these galleries. The brood emerges from the parent entrance tunnels.

Beaver, Kajimura and Goto 2008: This is a polyphagous ambrosia beetle boring in twigs and shoots. Primary attacks on apparently healthy hosts can occur and it is an occasional pest of coffee. Browne, 1961: This species is rare in Malaya where it has only been reported from a cut Swietenia macrophylla. It is a borer of twigs and shoots. The nest comprises a short entrance tunnel and one or more longitudinal tunnels in which the young brood lives and which is typically densely lined with white mycelium. Hulcr and Cognato, 2012: Very short entrance tunnel leading into cavity of variable shape. This habit shared with related Cnestus, but not with Hadrodemius or Anisandrus, both of which create only tunnels. Twig borer, rare in New Guinea. Beaver and Liu, 2010: The biology is described by Browne (1961), Kalshoven (1959). Le Pelley (1968) notes that it attacks green, living branches of coffee in Sri Lanka, but it is not considered an important pest.

Beaver, 2010: Recorded from at least 9 families and 12 genera of angiosperm trees. A polyphagous ambrosia beetle.

Xyleborinus saxesenii is one of the smallest ambrosia beetles in the Holarctic zone (North America, Europe, Asia), but it is also one of the most ecologically successful ones. Native to the vast area of Eurasia, it has been introduced to most temperate and boreal regions of the world, including very remote islands such as New Caledonia or Hawaii (Wood & Bright, 1992). X. saxeseni has an essentially unlimited range of host tree species, including conifers.