mm long. The wing covers may be without spots or each one may be marked with a 
long, transverse subbasal spot, a shorter transverse spot near the middle, and a third 
near the tip. 
Several species of coccinellids have been imported against the balsam woolly 
adelgid in recent years. The European species, Aphidecta obliterata (L.), initially 
became established in infested Fraser fir stands in North Carolina but its present 
fate is unknown (396). Eggs are laid on the needles or trunks of infested trees, and 
the larvae and adults feed on all stages of the adelgid except the first instar. 
Attempts to establish this species in New Brunswick were unsuccessful (/63). 
Scymnus (Pullus) impexus Mulsant, one of the most important enemies of the 
adelgid in Central Europe, has been released in infested stands of fir in New 
England and North Carolina. The adults and larvae feed on second and third instars 
of the adelgid. It does not appear to be established (396). 
Other important species of native coccinellids include S$. /acustris LeConte, an 
enemy of the pine tortoise scale in the Lake States; Microwesia misella (LeConte), a 
minute species less than 1 mm long that feeds on various species of scale insects; 
Cleis picta (Randall), which often occurs in large numbers on pines infested with 
the red pine scale in the Northeast; and the spider mite destroyer, Stethorus 
punctum Casey, which is the mainstay of integrated spider mite control in apple 
orchards in Pennsylvania. 
Family Derodontidae 
Derodontids 
This little-known family contains about five species in the Eastern United States. 
Adults are brown or motley brown and are 2 to 6 mm long. Larvae and adults of 
some species occur together on or in slime molds and shelf fungi. These habitats 
and the sharp projections on the margin of the prothorax have led to the name 
“tooth-neck fungus beetles.”” Some native species are general, though not impor- 
tant, predators of adelgids on conifers. 
Laricobius erichsonii Rosenhauer, a European predator of the balsam woolly 
adelgid, has been established in adelgid-infested stands of fir in Canada, New 
England, North Carolina, and the Pacific Northwest. It appears to be the only 
foreign predator of the adelgid established in North Carolina (396). The adult is an 
elongate oval beetle, 2.2 to 2.4 mm long, with a deflexed head that is usually 
hidden from view dorsally. The body is covered with yellowish to brownish to black 
hairs; the central portions of the elytra, the antennae, and the legs are reddish 
brown. Adults deposit eggs within adelgid egg clusters or under lichens on the bark. 
The larvae, often covered with bits of adelgid’s wool and bark, feed to maturity on 
adelgid eggs, drop to the ground, and pupate in cocoons of compacted soil particles 
(164). 
Family Cucujidae 
Cucujid Beetles or Flat Bark Beetles 
Adults of this family are yellow, red, brown, or black. They are extremely 
flattened since they are adapted to living under close-fitting bark of unhealthy trees 
or recently felled trees and logs. The larvae are depressed in shape. The majority 
are scavengers but a few are predacious on mites or insects. 
Cucujus clavipes F. is conspicuously bright red, extremely flat, and 10 to 14 mm 
long. It is common in the Northern States, especially under bark of recently dead 
ash and poplar. Catogenus rufus (F.) larvae are usually found parasitizing the pupae 
of wood-boring Cerambycidae or larvae of Braconidae. The adults are reddish 
brown and are up to 12 mm long. 
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