Zimmermann pine moth damage has been especially serious in Christmas tree 
plantations of Scotch, red, and Austrian pines in the North Central States and 
southern Canada. 
The remaining eastern Dioryctria species are known primarily for their injury to 
cones although other tree parts may be infested (360). 
The southern pine coneworm, D. amatella (Hulst), occurs throughout the 
Southeast from Virginia to Florida and westward to Texas. In addition to cones, it 
infests male flowers, shoots, fusiform rust cankers, Cronartium quercuum (Berk. ) 
Miyabe ex Shirai f. sp. fusiforme, and southern cone rust, C. strobilinum Hedgc. & 
Hahn, infested cones and tree wounds of southern pines, particularly of longleaf, 
slash, and loblolly pines. The adult (fig. 72) has a wingspread of 27 to 32 mm; the 
forewing is dark brown, nearly black, with contrasting white patches and zigzag 
lines. Mature larvae are brownish to purplish above, pale whitish to greenish below, 
with black muscle attachments; they are about 25 mm long. 
F-532840 
Figure 72.—Adult of the southern pine coneworm, 
Dioryctria amatella. 
First-stage larvae overwinter under bud or bark scales; occasional larger larvae 
overwinter in damaged cones. In longleaf pine, overwintered larvae usually feed 
first upon flowers, both male and female, then enter shoots or second-year cones. 
The larvae in shoots may mature there or migrate to second-year cones. In slash and 
loblolly pines, overwintered larvae more frequently occur in fusiform rust cankers 
where they complete development. Later overlapping generations occur mainly in 
second-year cones of all host pines. Pupation occurs within host materials. This 
species is frequently reported as the cause of heavy cone losses of southern pines. 
Dioryctria abietivorella (Grote), the fir coneworm, ranges across Canada and 
the adjoining Eastern and Western United States. It is a coneworm that also infests 
buds and twigs, and occasionally feeds under the bark. It occurs on a variety of 
conifers including the eastern spruces and firs and red, eastern white, and jack 
pines. The moth has blue-gray forewings crossed by diffuse, pale zigzag lines; the 
hindwings are pale gray. Wingspread is from 20 to 30 mm. The mature larva is 
reddish carneous to amber- or purplish-brown with indistinct darker dorsal and 
subdorsal lines, and is from 15 to 25 mm long (791, 897). 
Damage is similar to that of the spruce coneworm. Prepupal larvae or pupae 
overwinter and produce early season moths in June and July. However, some larvae 
apparently mature and pupate and the moths emerge in late summer and fall. These 
183 
