552 MISC. PUBLICATION 657, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
When young, the larva of the red-headed pine sawfly (Neodiprion 
lecontei (Fitch) ) is whitish and unspotted, with the head brownish. 
Later, after undergoing a series of molts, it becomes yellowish and has 
six rows of conspicuous irregular black spots on the body, and the head 
isreddish. It is % to 1 inch long when full grown (fig. 146, B). This 
species is distributed 
throughout the pine- 
ca * growing regions of the 
ed ; Gast ern  patimornde 
United States and Can- 
ea ada. having been re- 
fae eects corded from practically 
every State from Maine 
to Florida and from Min- 
nesota to Louisiana. It 
feeds on a wide variety 
of pines, showing a pret- 
erence for the hard pines. 
and is occasionally found 
on some other conifers. 
Present records show that 
ginia, jack, red, eastern 
white, western white, 
Scotch, loblolly, lodge- 
pole, mugho, longleaf, 
pitch, ponderosa, and 
Austrian pines, and tam- 
arack and deodar. The 
larvae are vigorous de- 
folators of small pines. 
They prefer the old 
needles as food, but late 
in the summer they also 
eat the new foliage, and 
they frequently feed to 
some extent on the tender 
Bee: ean eee of Hees ee a bark of young twigs. 
é atere flews)! > 45. Ne ; ri- . . 
ene B_N. pps nate C, y. atc cuaW N. This sawfly is undoubt- 
sertifier; E, N. dyari; F, Diprion frutetorum. edly the most widespread 
and destructive of our 
native sawflies that attack pine, being abundant over large areas at 
irregular intervals. The larvae are practically always found feeding 
gregariously on the needles of young pine trees or those in open-growth 
stands. The species is thus most important in young plantations and 
nurseries and to reproduction and ornamentals. Severe outbreaks have 
occurred in forest plantations in recent years in New York, the Lake 
States, and Alabama. In some infestations only small parts of the 
stands were damaged; in others the defoliation was so extensive that 
the stands on large acreages were completely ruined. 
The hfe history of Neodiprion lecontei (Middleton, 299) is rather 
complicated, as there may be one and a partial second generation, or 
two complete generations annually. Larvae maturing by the second 
its hosts include Vir-- 
~ er 
aS ee Se ee ee v 
