" ; ee Fe 5 
Courtesy Conn. Agric. Exp. Stn. 
Figure 36.—Pine needle scale, 
Chionaspis pinifoliae, on needles of 
red pine. 
infestations cause needles to turn yellow and may kill branches or whole trees. 
Infestations tend to be heaviest on lower branches. Ornamental plantings in urban 
areas are normally most severely damaged. Natural enemies include more than 10 
chalcidoid wasps and 5 lady beetles. 
Chionaspis nyssae Comstock, the sour-gum scale, is indigenous to North 
America and is known from 18 Eastern States from New York to Florida and west to 
Missouri. This species occurs almost entirely on black tupelo and water tupelo but 
is occasionally found on common sweetleaf, hackberry, hawthorn, and oak. The 
cover of the adult female is oystershell-shaped, slightly expanded posteriorly, 
white, and has yellow, terminal exuviae. The body of the adult female is yellow but 
turns pinkish red shortly before and during oviposition. Eggs are pink when laid but 
turn purple before hatching. The cover of the adult male is elongate, white, and has 
three longitudinal ridges and a yellow, terminal shed skin. 
The sour-gum scale has two generations per year in Maryland and overwinters on 
the bark as mated adult females (68/). This scale may be found during the growing 
season on leaves and bark; females are most abundant on the bark and males on the 
leaves. Egg laying on the bark begins in early April; a single female may lay up to 
80 eggs. First instars appear in mid-April on bark and early May on leaves; this 
stage 1s present throughout the growing season. Adults of the summer generation 
are first observed in mid-June. Winged males are most abundant, but wingless 
males are present in small numbers. Adults of the overwintering generation appear 
in late August. In the fall eggs are laid by leaf-inhabiting females but normally are 
110 
