in the South. The adult has forewings of bright yellow to orange, shaded red-brown 
with sharp white crosslines and markings, and has a wingspread of 17 to 29 mm. 
The larvae vary from olive green to buff. Northern larvae are small, slender, and 
from 14 to 18 mm; southern larvae are robust and from 20 to 25 mm long. 
In the North, winter is spent as first-stage larvae in hibernacula beneath bark 
scales of branches. Young larvae infest staminate flowers in the spring then enter 
and tunnel in second-year cones as third to fourth instars (759). In the South partly 
grown larvae have been reported to feed and overwinter in conelets (925), but in 
northern Georgia no cone damage was observed until spring when third-stage 
larvae infested young second-year cones without evidence of prior conelet boring. 
Infested cones are hollowed and have characteristic masses of tightly webbed 
frass over the entry holes. Pupation occurs in the damaged cones, and adults 
emerge from late May (South) through July (North). A single generation occurs 
each year. Damage by the webbing coneworm is generally sporadic; however, 
serious infestations and cone losses were experienced in loblolly pine seed orchards 
from 1978 to 1982 throughout the South. Pheromone-baited traps have been 
successful in trapping adults to determine population levels and periods of activity 
(288). 
The baldcypress coneworm, Dioryctria pygmaeella Ragonot, occurs in the 
Eastern United States. It infests the cones of baldcypress and pondcypress from 
Maryland to Florida. In northern Florida it has destroyed more than 75 percent of a 
single year’s crop. There are three complete generations in its southern range (839). 
Several Dioryctria species of importance in the Southeast have only recently 
been described (547, 902); previously these were often either misidentified or 
referred to species groups in the literature. These include: the south coastal 
coneworm, D. ebeli Mutuura & Munroe, limited to the lower Southeast from 
southern Georgia and Florida westward along the Gulf area. It infests slash, 
longleaf, and loblolly pines and also occurs on pondcypress. The moth (fig. 74) 1s 
similar to D. abietivorella and has a wingspread of about 20 mm. Mature larvae are 
brown to purplish and about 15 to 20 mm long. In the spring this coneworm infests 
conelets infected by cone rust, Cronartium strobilinum Hedge. & Hahn. Through- 
out the summer repeated generations attack second-year cones, both intact and 
damaged. Fall infestations occur in fusiform cankers or terminal buds where larvae 
mature over winter. Larvae drop from feeding sites to pupate, apparently in soil 
litter. This species is periodically common, but its affinity to diseased or damaged 
cones reduces its impact on cone crops (357). 
F-519534 
Figure 74.—Adult of the south coastal coneworm, 
Dioryctria ebeli. 
185 
