The bark beetle genus Dendroctonus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) comprises 19 currently recognized species, including some of the main pests of coniferous forests in North and Central America. Despite their ecological and economic significance, some relevant issues of the evolutionary history of the group remain contentious, particularly those concerning the phylogenetic relationships among its members, the precise delimitation of species and species groups, the geographical origin of the genus and its evolutionary trends. In the present study, evolutionary relationships between Dendroctonus species are reassessed through a cladistic analysis of the 19 species in the genus (and three outgroups) based on a preliminary matrix of 36 potentially informative characters (31 from adult and larval morphology, plus two chromosomal and three behavioral features). Parsimony-based phylogenetic analysis was carried out using a heuristic search strategy, with TBR branch swapping. Four most parsimonious trees (MPT´s) were found; the consensus cladogram of these MPT’s reveals three major clades within the genus, although basal relationships among such clades remain unresolved. However, topology of the consensus tree suggests a pattern congruent with the hypothesis of a boreal origin for the genus.