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The bark beetle, Ips pini, uses its mandibles to bore into the wood of dead and dying trees. Holes and galleries are cut into the wood by both males and females for mating and oviposition (egg-laying). The breeding behaviour of the bark beetle aids in the degradation of forest litter. These beetles bore into dead and dying tree trunks, making chambers for mating and channels for oviposition. The mandibles of the female bark beetle are larger than those of the male. This is because the females bore long tunnels in the wood of dead trees for ovipostion, while males only bore smaller holes as mating chambers. (Source: University of Alberta BioDiTRL online database, accessed Dec. 7, 2015. Copyright restrictions apply.)