IQ MISC. PUBLICATION 273, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



CONE BEETLES 



Pine cones wliicli dry and wither before they are half grown 

 (fig. 5), and either drop to the ground or are retained as blighted 

 immattire specimens, usually have been killed by the cone beetles. 

 Conophfhorus spp. (-59). 



The adtilts are small, dark, shining cylindrical beetles, from one- 

 sixteenth to five thirty-seconds of an inch in length. Thej^ bore into 

 the base or supporting stem of the immature pine cones in the spring 

 soon after the beginning of the second year's growth. A small 

 ttmnel is projected through the axis of the cone, and in this the 

 female beetle deposits her eggs. From these hatch small, white, 

 curled, legless grubs which feed tipon the scales, seeds, and tissues of 

 the withering cone. Development to the adtilt stage is completed 

 during the stimmer within the dead cone, where the beetles usually 

 remain over the winter. The damage to the cone crops of ponderosa 

 pine, western white pine, and sugar pine is often very severe. In 

 some years from 25 to 75 percent of the cones of stigar pine have 

 been killed over large areas. In other pines the damage is less 

 conspicuous. Xo method of control seems feasible under forest 

 conditions. 



A number of species found in western pines have been described 

 by Hopkins and named for their principal host trees. The following 

 list gives the species of C ono phthorus that may be found in western 

 forests : 



Species of Conophtborus Hosts and distribution 



C. poudcrosae Hopk Ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, and Jeffrey 



pine. Pacific States. 



C. scopuJorum Hopk Ponderosa pine. Rocky Mountain region. 



C. lamhertianae Hopk Sugar pine and western white pine. 



C. mouticoUir Hopk Western white pine and ponderosa pine. 



C. radiatae Hopk Monterc^y pine. 



C. contortae Hopk Lodgepole pine. 



C. monoplujUae Hopk Singleleaf pifion pine. 



C. edulis Hopk Pihon pine. Colorado, Arizona, and New 



Mexico. 



C. opachecae Hopk Apache pine. Arizona. : ', . . 



C. -flcxiJis Hopk Limber pine. 



CONE MOTHS 



The caterpillars of certain species of moths feed on the bracts, 

 scales, and seeds of tender growing cones. Stich feeding dwarfs or 

 deforms the cones and sometimes causes their death, but more fre- 

 quently destroys a large percentage of the seeds without killing the 

 cones. The work of certain species is characterized by larval tunnels 

 within the cones and an opening at the surface through which resin 

 mixed with larval castings exudes. Other caterpillars attack the 

 cones and mine through the axis and into the seeds without causing 

 resinous masses or deformity of the cones. 



The adults are mostly small inconspictious moths which are seldom 

 noticed. They usually fly early in the spring and deposit their eggs 

 on the scales of young cones. The eggs hatch in a few days, and the 

 young larvae bore into the cones, where they feed until fall. Wlien 

 the caterpillars reach full growth they form silken cocoons on the 

 surface of the cones, among the cone scales, or in the pith, in which 



