flagging injury attributed to the spittlebug, in the Lake States at least, is due to the 
fungus rather than the insect. Controlling the insect halts the disease spread. The 
problem is worst in weakened large sapling and pole-size Scotch pine stands. 
Thinning closed stands to make them more vigorous is also recommended as a 
control practice. 
The Saratoga spittlebug, Aphrophora saratogensis (Fitch), occurs in south- 
eastern Canada and the East Central United States from Maine to Minnesota. 
Nymphs feed on a wide variety of herbs and shrubs. Sweetfern is preferred and 
necessary for most outbreaks. Outbreaks can occur, however, when 80 percent of 
the forest floor is covered by other broadleaf plants. The adults feed on red, jack, 
eastern white, Virginia, pitch, and loblolly pines, and occasionally on white 
spruce, balsam fir, and tamarack. In the Lake States, red pine is hit hardest and jack 
pine ranks second. Heavy infestations in the Lake States have destroyed entire red 
pine plantations. 
The adult is about 9 to 10 mm long, light brown to tan, with a light, irregular 
arrow-shaped stripe on the head and pronotum and with oblique, wavy markings on 
the wing covers. The abdomen of the young nymph is scarlet, edged with black. 
Fifth instars are dark brown. 
Adults are active from late June to late September. They feed by inserting their 
mouth parts into the cortex of new and old shoots of the host, mostly on 2-year-old 
internodes. They extract sap and inject toxic saliva which causes the formation of 
necrotic resin-filled pockets in the pholem and xylem tissues. Damaged pines are 
characterized by the presence of reddish-brown “‘flags” of dead foliage, by numer- 
ous puncture wounds on the twigs covered with small drops of resin, and by light- 
tan flecks in the wood and inner bark at feeding points. Extensive feeding kills 
branches, stunts and deforms growing shoots, and may kill entire trees. Mortality 
usually begins 2 or 3 years after the first flags are seen (389). 
On red pine, eggs are laid under the outer scales of buds on the upper part of the 
tree. On jack pine, they are laid in the sheaths of current year’s needles or under the 
bark of twigs. The winter is spent in the egg stage and the nymphs hatch in the 
spring just about the time red and jack pine buds begin to elongate. Young nymphs 
drop to the ground and begin feeding at the base of alternate host stems, either 
singly or in small groups. As they feed, they form masses of spittle (fig. 22). To 
find these masses it is frequently necessary to brush the litter away from the base of 
/\ 
F-489365 
Figure 22.—Spittle mass of the Saratoga spittlebug, 
Aphrophora saratogensis, at base of sweetfern. 
73 
