from Maine to West Virginia and west to California; P. biovalis Blackman—various 
spruces and pines in New York, Maine, and Michigan; P. balsameus Blackman— 
balsam fir, spruces, and pines from Michigan to Maine and south to North Carolina; 
P. dentifrons Blackman—red and white spruces from Minnesota to Maine and 
North Carolina; P. cariniceps LeConte—balsam fir, pines, and spruces in the 
northern tier of States and southern Canada; P. annectens LeConte—living trees 
and slash of various pines from West Virginia to Florida and Texas; P. intextus 
Swaine—white and red spruces from British Columbia to Newfoundland in Canada 
south to West Virginia; P. pulchellus Eichhoff—probably all species of pines from 
Maine to North Carolina and Texas, also red spruce and balsam fir; P. puberulus 
(LeConte)—all species of conifers from British Columbia to New Brunswick in 
Canada to Kansas, Texas, and Florida; and P. ramiperda Swaine—tred and eastern 
white pines in eastern Canada and from Maine to the Lake States. 
The genus Pityoborus contains only one eastern species, P. comatus (Zimmer- 
mann). It is widely distributed in the Southeastern States, but appears to be most 
common in the Mississippi area. Its known hosts are shortleaf, loblolly, longleaf, 
and slash pines. It breeds beneath the bark on the undersides of living but weakened 
branches of its host and is of little or no importance. Egg galleries radiate in any 
direction, deeply engraving the wood. The larvae construct wide, short, connecting 
galleries. The adult is brown to black with yellowish appendages and is about 1.8 
mm long. The female is distinguished by the presence of a patch of fine, dense, 
silky hair on each side of the pronotum. 
Cone and Seed Beetles 
Spermophagous Scolytidae 
The genus Conophthorus, which best exemplifies spermophagy (cone and seed 
feeding) in eastern North America, is very destructive to many species of pines 
(547). The close relationship of Conophthorus with twig beetles of the genus 
Pityophthorus is indicated by their occasional infestation of new shoots. 
Several tropical species that infest seeds of hardwoods occasionally are imported 
into North America. For example, Hypothenemus obscurus (F.) is frequently 
intercepted in shipments of Brazil nuts. 
The adults of Conophthorus are stout, dark brown to black, and about 1.2 to 4 
mm long. The female adult bores into a second-year cone at the petiole or base into 
the axis, where she constructs a small tunnel and deposits eggs at intervals in niches 
along its sides. The larvae feed on the scales, seeds, and tissues of the cone, often 
completely honeycombing the interior. Infested cones wither and die before reach- 
ing maturity. Conophthorus species usually attack one or a few pine species. If 
second-year cones are scarce, first-year cones and current-year shoots may be 
attacked. Another way in which these insects survive years in which few cones are 
available is that one portion of the population emerges from the infested cone after 
the first winter, while other brood adults remain dormant in the cones or in the litter 
until the second or possibly the third year. By periodically destroying a majority of 
the annual cone production of a species, cone beetles can delay restocking in logged 
or burned areas. 
Cone beetles and other cone insects perennially destroy most of the seed pro- 
duced. For satisfactory yields from seed orchards it is usually necessary to treat the 
trees with topical or systemic insecticides. Controlled burning or cleaning the 
ground in the fall or early spring should provide substantial relief from infestation 
since Conophthorus and most other cone-feeding insects overwinter in fallen cones 
or in the ground litter. 
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