Courtesy Conn. Agric. Exp. Stn. 
Figure 30.—Masses of male cocoons and a closeup of 
the red pine scale, Matsucoccus resinosae. 
Matsucoccus gallicolus Morrison, the pine twig gall scale, is apparently a native 
species. It has been recorded in 16 States from New Hampshire to Florida and west 
to Misscuri. It occurs on loblolly, pitch, ponderosa, red, shortleaf, spruce, Table 
Mountain, and Virginia pines. 
The pine twig gall scale has one generation per year and normally overwinters as 
an egg. Hatching occurs when the new year’s growth is 2.5 to 7.5 cm long (/49). 
The crawlers migrate from the bark to the new green growth where they settle. As 
feeding progresses, cells beneath the scale body collapse, eventually leaving the 
crawler in a small depression. Molting occurs, and the first-instar crawler trans- 
forms into a cyst. The host plant grows around the cyst until the scale is completely 
enclosed except for a small hole that apparently is kept open by the trapped shed 
skin of the crawler. By the end of July, the cyst molts to the adult female stage; she 
squeezes through the hole in the gall, migrates to the trunk or a main branch, and 
lays the overwintering eggs under the bark. Adult males have not been reported. 
The pine twig gall scale is an important pest of pitch pine and may kill mature 
trees, although it 1s most detrimental to young trees (959). This scale frequently 
kills limbs and is particularly injurious to ornamental plantings. 
Matsucoccus alabamae Morrison, the Alabama pine scale, is reported on the 
bark of pines in Alabama, but no major damage has been attributed to this species. 
M. macrocicatrices Richards, the Canadian pine scale, occurs in southeastern 
Canada and New Hampshire where it is found on eastern white pine. The scale is 
unique among the pine scales in that it is associated with the fungus Septobasidium 
pinicola Snell in an apparent mutualistic relationship. 
Canadian pine scale has one generation every 2 years and overwinters in the cyst 
Stage in fungal mats (/255). Eggs are laid in cracks of the bark early in the year. 
Crawlers migrate to the edges of fungal mats where they feed and molt to the cyst 
stage. The cyst remains in the fungal mat for nearly 2 years before transforming to 
89 
