Various bark beetles such as the southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimm.) commonly reach epidemic levels in unmanaged or extensively managed pine forests. This tiny insect, that ranges from Pennsylvania to Texas and from New Mexico and Arizona to Honduras, caused the loss of about 10 billion board feet of pine timber in Honduras in 1962-64, and killed over 52 million cubic feet of pine in Texas in 1976 alone. During the past 10 years this insect has infested more than 40 million acres in the South. It is the major insect threat to our southern pine forests.