The pecan nut casebearer, Acrobasis caryae Grote, occurs from 
southern Canada to Florida and westward to Illinois and Texas. 
Its preferred host appears to be pecan, but it also feeds on hick- 
ories. The adult is dark gray, with a ridge or tuft of long dark 
scales extending across each forewing, and has a wingspread of 
18 to 20 mm. Mature larvae are a dirty, olive green and are about 
12 mm. long. Winter is spent in the larval stage in a small case 
near the base of a bud. Later, they bore into tender shoots, caus- 
ing them 4p become stunted and distorted. Larvae of the second 
generation appear in May and bore into newly-set nuts, destroy- 
ing from two to five nuts each. Larvae of later generations usu- 
ally feed on the shucks only and cause little or no damage. There 
are three or four generations per year in the South. 
Several other species of Acrobasis also occur on forest and 
shade trees in eastern United States. The birch tube maker, A. bet- 
ulella Hulst is common on various species of birch, white birch in 
particular (in the Northern States and southern Canada) ; A. ru- 
brifasciella Pack.—on alder; A. indiginella (Zeller)—on hawthorn 
(in the Northeast); A. demotella Grote and A. septentrionella 
Dyar—on pecan buds (in Texas) ; and A. feltella Dyar—on hick- 
ory (in southern Canada and from New England to Illinois). 
The genus Dioryctria Zeller has a world-wide distribution in 
the Northern Hemisphere, and the larvae of all species are borers 
in conifers. Many are highly injurious to seeds and cones. The 
larval habits of some of the more widely distributed species are 
quite variable. This suggests that more than one species is in- 
volved in certain cases. This can be established only through 
further taxanomic and biological investigations. The genus has 
been discussed by Ebel (217), Heinrich (336), Neunzig and Mer- 
kel (565), Munroe (551), and Neunzig, et al. (566). 
Dioryctria clarioralis (Walker) occurs throughout the South 
and infests the vegetative buds, male bud clusters, conelets, and 
cones of longleaf, slash, loblolly, and shortleaf pines. Moths have 
forewings marked with wide and nearly black transverse bands 
near the base, and have wingspreads of 22 to 29 mm. (fie. 137). 
Larvae are usually yellow-brown to orange-brown, often heavily 
suffused with gray; they are about 18 mm. long. This was the 
most common of the moths infesting the cones of shortleaf and 
loblolly pines in Arkansas in 1960 (799). Cone damage is almost 
identical to that caused by D. zimmermant. 
Winter is probably spent in the larval stage in conelets. During 
the spring and summer, the larvae bore into buds, conelets, and 
cones to feed. A characteristic of this species is the presence of 
resin-coated silk over the entrance hole in which ejected frass 
F-494452 
FIGURE 137.—Adult of Dioryctria clarioralis. 
354 
