Eggs apparently are laid on needle sheaths on new shoots or laterals during May 
or early June. Young larvae bore into the pith a few centimeters above the node of 
the new shoot and construct tunnels toward the tip several centimeters long. 
Infested shoots are eventually girdled from the inside (333). The full-grown larva 
bores a hole to the outside through which it escapes and drops to the ground. There 
it spins a cocoon in the litter or just below the soil surface in which it pupates. 
Winter is spent in the pupal stage (29/). 
The eastern pine shoot borer is a serious pest of young jack pines in the Lake 
States and Ontario and in eastern white, red, and Scotch pine plantations in New 
York and Pennsylvania. Infested terminals bend over or break off. Damaged laterals 
turn yellow, then red, and gradually die as the season advances. Infested trees 
become bushy after repeated attacks (fig. 54). 
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F-492898 
Figure 54.—Damage to pine terminal by the eastern 
pine shoot borer, Eucosma gloriola. 
Eucosma monitorana Heinrich, the red pine cone borer, attacks the cones of 
various pines in the Northeastern and Lake States and southern Canada. The adult is 
reddish brown with tan and silver markings on the forewings and has a wingspread 
of about 14 mm. 
Young larvae enter the upper parts of second-year cones in June and bore down 
the cone axis. They feed on immature seeds until the supply is exhausted and 
sometimes sever the cone at the base. A single cone may contain up to 25 larvae. 
Final instars sometimes migrate to and enter relatively fresh cones. At first they 
bore around the cone for a short distance, then they tunnel toward and into the axis 
where they feed on surrounding seed. Mature larvae vacate the cones during July 
and drop to the ground to pupate, the stage in which the species overwinters. While 
on the ground, the larvae are vulnerable to prescribed burning (855). There is one 
generation per year (58). 
Eucosma cocana Kearfott, the shortleaf pine cone borer, bores in cones mainly 
of shortleaf pine on the Eastern Seaboard (360). The adult is rust colored with 
155 
