The following is general information on how the information in this database was collected. 

The creation of the database started from drafting of the most updated species list of Scolytinae in the world. This checklist was initially based on the Wood & Bright catalog “A Catalog of Scolytidae and Platypodidae (Coleoptera), Part 2: Taxonomic Index” and following supplements, and it was subsequently integrated on the basis of all taxonomic papers published afterwards. The research of information was conducted through a systematic search, treating individual species one at a time. The search was performed by searching not only for the beetle’s valid name, but also by using its synonyms. The research was performed in Google Scholar and Google for each species on the list.

 

Biology – Two main sources were used for information concerning reproduction and feeding habits:

• Wood, S. L. (1986). A reclassification of the genera of Scolytidae (Coleoptera). The Great Basin Naturalist memoirs, 10, 1-126.
• Kirkendall, L. R., Biedermann, P. H., & Jordal, B. H. (2015). Evolution and diversity of bark and ambrosia beetles (pp. 85-156). In: Vega FE, Hofstetter RW, editors. Bark beetles: biology and ecology of native and invasive species. Academic Press.

Both sources give information on the reproduction and feeding habits of the genera belonging to the Scolytinae. For this reason, for all species for which we have not been able to find precise information on reproduction or feeding habits, all the cases reported for the genus to which they belong have been given.

Google Scholar Results represents the number of results obtained in Google Scholar searching the species name between commas (e.g., 'Xylosandrus germanus') and it is used as a proxy of the species importance.

Invasion Score is an indicator of the invasiveness of the species (value from 0 to 10), assigned on the basis of three categories: type of reproduction, type of feeding habit and degree of polyphagy. These categories were analysed in all the species recorded as 'introduced' in at least one country in the database. All the traits of these three categories were ranked in three risk groups with different points (PT) assigned (based on the percentage of species with an invasion history sharing that type of characteristic) from 'low risk' (1 PT – if a given trait is present in less than 10% of the species), to 'medium risk' (2 PT – if a given trait is present in between 10% and 40% of the species), up to 'high risk' (3 PT – if a given trait is present in more than 40% of the species). Species with unknown traits, scored zero points for that category. Lastly, an additional point was assigned to those species that have already spread into new territories. The table below presents the scores assigned to each type of the three categories. 

Biological Category	Low Risk (1 PT)	Medium Risk (2 PT)	High Risk (3 PT)
Reproduction	Bigamous	Monogamous Polygamous	Inbreeding Polygynous
Feeding Habits	All the others traits	Spermatophagous	Phloeophagous Xylomycetophagous
Degree of Polyphagy	Monophagous (feeds on plants belonging to a single genus)	Oligophagous (feeds on plants belonging to a single family)	Polyphagous (feeds on plants belonging to at least two families)
Known to be invasive	-	-	+1 PT

 

Host plants – In compiling these data, we identified host plant records based on all records of species observed boring inside any plant par or tissue. Records derived from trapping, baited logs, or otherobservations of occurence in plantations (including in monocultures) were considered unreliable and therefore not included the database. Plant taxonomy adopted in the dataset was based on the information available from the 'Plant of The World Online' database. Plant family and genus records do not imply that a specific Scolytinae species feeds on all the plants belonging to that category, but instead that this data is the most specific/detailed information available in the reviewed literature, suggesting that a determined species feeds on at least one plant species belonging to that specific family/genus.

 

Distribution – The starting point for the geographical distribution was also the Wood & Bright catalogues. The hierarchical classification of the 477 nations included in the database is a modified version of that adopted in the catalogues (click here to open the legend). The records considered concern the presence of stable populations within the nation: for this reason, all cases of interceptions at entry points, which do not establish a stable presence of the species, were excluded. Records are reported at the nation level; for Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, and Russia, individual state or province records have been reported. As Bright's catalogue also reports groups of states (e.g., 'Territories' for China and Russia, 'Federal Districts' for Russia) or geographical areas (e.g., 'Borneo' or 'Caucasus'), these have been replaced by all states belonging to the grouping.

 

The references included in the database are both the most relevant, the most updated and those specifically referring to a determined information for Scolytinae species. In case of multiple references referring to the same species or reporting the same information, only one, and generally the first recovered or the most exhaustive, was selected and included in the database.