INSECT ENEMIES OF EASTERN FORESTS 257 
The twig girdler (Oncideres cingulatus (Say)) is found in the 
Eastern States in hickory, persimmon, elm, poplar, gum, basswood. 
honey-locust, dogwood, and some fruit trees (fig. 54 7). O. texanus 
Horn, the pecan twig girdler, is found in Texas in leguminous plants, 
and O. pustulatus Lec., the huisache girdler, occurs in the South- 
western States, in huisache, mesquite, and acacia (High 225). 
Late in the summer or early in the fall these beetles appear and feed 
on the thin bark of twigs before laying their eggs. The adult female 
girdles branches of the host tree by cutting a circular incision through 
the bark and deep into the wood. The twigs so girdled range from 
% inch to 1% inches in diameter in the larger species. In these twigs 
the eggs are deposited in small scars gnawed through the bark. These 
branches soon die, and most of them fall to the ground. Until the 
middle of the following summer the larvae feed in the wood, loosely 
filling the mine with frass, although much of the frass falls out. The 
pupal cell is firmly walled with fibrous frass. One year is required to 
complete the development, but in more northern localities many of the 
larvae feed through the second year before pupating. A high mor- 
tality occurs in the larval stage, owing to there being too many borers 
in the same twig or to excessive drying of the branches. 
These beetles become so numerous at times that trees are badly 
deformed, dozens of branches often being cut from a single tree. 
Young hickory seedlings are frequently cut off near the ground. 
Control of these borers may be obtained by following the measures 
outlined on page 23. 
The adults of the genus Oeme, the cypress and cedar borers, are 
elongate, slender, light- to dark-brown beetles, from 12 to 22 mm. in 
length. The thorax is subglobose and constricted at the base. They 
occur throughout the eastern part of the United States, the Rocky 
Mountains, and the Southwest in cypress, cedars, junipers, and pines. 
The larvae are of an elongate, slender form, having the head wider 
than long, the mandible rounded at the apex, and the anterior ventral 
margin of the mouth frame squarely emarginate in the middle. One 
ocellus is present on each side of the head, surrounded by many 
recurved hairs. The pronotum is smooth and shining, and the 
ampullae are alutaceous and shining. Legs are present. The larvae 
bore beneath the bark of dying or dead conifers, exuding granular frass 
and constructing a peculiar pupal cell. 
The hosts and habitats of three species are known. Oecme rigida 
(Say) occurs throughout the Eastern States in juniper and cypress, 
O. costata Lec. in the southern Rocky Mountains and Southwest in 
pines, and QO. strangulata Horn through the Southwest in cedars and 
junipers. The adults fly early in the spring or late in the summer, 
according to locality, laying the eggs beneath scales of bark of recently 
cut or dying wood. The larvae feed beneath the bark, exuding large 
quantities of granular frass, and later enter the wood, often com- 
pletely riddling smaller logs. The very peculiar pupal cell is illus- 
trated in figure 54, #. It is opened through the bark but plugged 
farther back by a wad of fibrous frass. Normally 1 year is required to 
complete development. Deadened cypress. and rustic work con- 
structed from wood that has not been thoroughly seasoned, is often 
severely injured, causing the bark to peel off or even the destruction 
of pieces of wood from 1 inch to 3 inches in diameter. 
