same tree. Seven species of Hylobius occur in North America. Keys to the adults 
have been published (4/6, 86/). 
The pales weevil, H. pales (Herbst), is the most serious insect pest of pine 
reproduction in cutover pine land (75, 938). It is also a problem in young reforesta- 
tion areas and Christmas tree plantations. Pales weevil occurs in North America 
east of the Great Plains and north to Ontario. The adult is dark reddish-brown to 
black, 7 to 12 mm long (fig. 147). There is a patch or line of yellow-white scales on 
the head, and irregular patches of light scales on the elytra. 
F-532346 
Figure 147.—Adult pales weevil, Hylobius pales, feeding 
on loblolly pine seedling. 
Pales weevil breeds in all species of pine within its range. Pitch, white, loblolly, 
and shortleaf pines are favored species. It has been reported from spruce, fir, 
juniper, larch, hemlock, northern white-cedar, and Douglas-fir. 
In the North, winter is spent as adults beneath litter or as larvae in roots. In the 
South, adults may be active throughout the winter but are in reproductive diapause 
(214). Depending on location, those adults in hibernation emerge from March to 
June. The adults are active at night and hide during the day in the soil and litter 
around seedlings and saplings on which they have fed. After a brief period of 
feeding they fly to cut, damaged, or recently dead pines (572). Here they feed and 
mate and the females lay their eggs in the roots. Sometimes they may burrow as 
much as 30 cm in search of roots. The larvae feed downward in long tunnels under 
the bark and pupate in cells in the outer sapwood. Pupation and emergence may 
take place in the late summer or fall; or the larvae may overwinter, and pupation and 
emergence occur in early summer the following year (133, 317, 415, 1139). In the 
North there is usually one generation a year, although some adults may live for 2 
years. In the South there may be a second generation if weevils emerging in late 
summer or fall oviposit before winter. Adult populations peak in March through 
May and again in July and August (4/5, 975, 1190). 
The most serious damage pales weevil does is in natural and planted seedlings in 
recently cutover pine areas. Weevil-caused mortality among first-year seedlings of 
30 to 60 percent is not uncommon, and mortality exceeding 90 percent has been 
recorded (938). First evidence of attack is a series of small holes chewed in the bark 
by adults. On lightly infested trees these may fill with oleoresin and heal over. With 
323 
