These insects have garnered much attention from entomologists world wide because of their economic significance and fascinating life style. They are a small group within the “true” bark beetle family but are characterized by a feeding behavior that differs markedly from their relatives.

Attacks by ambrosia beetles do no structural damage to logs or lumber, but their activity results in significant degrade if the landowner’s goal is to produce a wood product.

Ambrosia beetles are beetles of the weevil subfamilies Scolytinae and Platypodinae (Coleoptera, Curculionidae), which live in nutritional symbiosis with ambrosia fungi and probably with bacteria. They do not feed on wood, but on fungi ("ambrosia") that grow upon the walls of the tunnels that the beetles excavate in dead trees.

After ambrosia beetle excavates a tunnel in the wood it releases spores of its fungal symbiont. The fungus penetrates the plant's xylem tissue, digests it, and concentrates the nutrients on and near the surface of the beetle gallery. The majority of ambrosia beetles colonize xylem (sapwood and/or heartwood) of dying or recently dead trees.

Ordinarily, ambrosia beetle activity goes unnoticed in forests where it plays an important biological role in the early stages of nutrient cycling. Attacks usually are associated with freshly cut or windblown trees and standing trees that are severely stressed or that have been killed recently by other agents. Their galleries provide openings for microorganisms and moisture that, together, accelerate decomposition. Only a few species attack vigorous trees.