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



CONE MOTHS 



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

 scales, and seeds of tender growing cones. Such 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 inconspicuous moths, which are sel- 

 dom 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. When 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 they overwinter. Most moths have one genera- 

 tion annually, and the adults emerge the following spring, but a 

 few may be retarded in their emergence and appear the second or 

 third season. Thus in the event that one or two cone crops fail, the 

 species is still able to survive. 



Control of cone moths has never been attempted but might be 

 possible through aerial application of DDT before egg laying 

 begins. 



PINE CONE MOTHS 



Pine cones are attacked early in the spring of their second year 

 of growth by caterpillars of cone moths. The species most com- 

 monly involved in this type of injury is the pine cone moth Laspey- 

 resia piperana (Kearf.). The dirty-white caterpillars are about y 2 

 inch long when full grown. They burrow through the central axis 

 of the cones and enter the seeds through the point of attachment. 

 They are especially destructive to the seeds of ponderosa pine 

 (fig. 6) and Jeffrey pine in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, 

 and Montana. Pupation takes place in the pith. The moths are 

 small, y 2 inch long, and range in color from gray to black. 



Other cone moths that attack pine cones bore tunnels through 

 scales and seeds. The seeds and a large portion of the interior of 

 the cone are destroyed. Sometimes the attack distorts and deforms 

 the cone or kills it before it reaches maturity. Most of the species 

 of this group also feed on the succulent new growth of pines. Their 

 work is characterized by a resinous exudation of pitch and larval 

 castings mixed with webbing. The following species belong in this 

 group : 



Species Hosts and distribution 



Dioryctria abietella (D. & S.) Pines, Douglas-fir, balsam fir, and spruce. 



California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, 

 Colorado, and Wyoming. 



albovittella (Hulst) Singleleaf pine. Nevada. 



xanthoenobares Dyar Ponderosa pine, knobcone pine, and other pines. 



California, Oregon, Colorado, and Montana. 



Eucosma bobana Kearf Ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, and knobcone pine. 



California, Oregon, and Montana. 

 rescissoriana Hein Lodgepole pine. Oregon. 



