Red, jack, and Scotch pine seedlings usually under 3 feet tall in 
nurseries, plantations, and natural stands and the lower half of 
trees up to 25 feet tall are attacked. The adult has a wingspread 
of 15 to 17 mm. The forewing has the outer third red and the 
remainder gray with four pairs of grayish-white vertical bars. 
In Ontario, eggs are laid between needles just above the needle 
Sheath of the needle fascicle. Young larvae spin silken cases 
between two old needles just above the sheath. Then they enter 
th needles and mine toward the tip. Later, after new needle 
growth has begun, they enter and mine the developing shoots. 
Several larvae may inhabit a single shoot and riddle it with their 
tunnels. Then they vacate the shoot and move to and destroy the 
buds. Full-grown larvae crawl down the stem and pupate in 
cocoons cemented to the stem below the soil surface. There is one 
generation per year (506). Serious damage has been recorded in 
red and Scotch pine plantations in Canada and the Lake States. 
Rhyacionia rigidana (Fern.) occurs from Georgia to Texas 
and north to Missouri, New York and Maine. It feeds on pitch, 
Corsican, Virginia, red, Scotch, loblolly, and slash pines. The 
adult is similar to the adult of the Nantucket pine tip moth, but 
is slightly larger and more colorful. The forewings are silver- 
white with crossbands of silver-white scales, and the hindwings 
are silver-gray. Its life history is not too well understood; how- 
ever, there appears to be at least three generations per year in 
the South. In the North there is probably only one. Damage is 
also similar to that caused by the Nantucket pine tip moth but 
apparently differs in the ability of this species to damage trees 
of large size. Pitch pines up to 15 inches in diameter may be in- 
fested, and terminals and laterals of slash pines up to 50 feet 
tall have been killed. 
The Nantucket pine tip moth, Rhyocionia frustrana (Comst.) 
(fig. 148), is widely distributed in the Eastern, Central, and 
Southern States. Its hosts include nearly all species of pines 
growing within its range, the only exceptions are longleaf 
and eastern white pines (798). Slash pine is also somewhat re- 
sistant, but is occasionally attacked. In the South and Southeast, 
loblolly and shortleaf pines are preferred; in the Northeast and 
Mid-Atlantic States pitch, Virginia, and Scotch appear to be 
favored; and in the Central States, shortleaf is attacked most 
heavily. Red pine has been infested along the coast of Maine. 
The adult has the head, body, and appendages covered with gray 
scales. The forewings are marked with irregular brick-red and 
coffee-colored patches, the patches being separated by irregular 
bands of gray scales; the wingspread is 9 to 15 mm. 
Winter is spent as a pupa within the injured tips of the host. 
Adults begin to appear on warm, sunny days in early spring—as 
early as January in the Deep South. Egg laying begins in a few 
days, during dusk and darkness. The eggs are deposited on new 
or old growth needles, in the axils of needles and stems, on de- 
veloping tips, or on buds. Newly-hatched larvae wander about the 
shoots looking for suitable feeding sights. Soon, they construct 
delicate webs in axils formed by developing needles and stems. 
Then the larva bores into a needle sheath and feeds on the needle, 
which is then severed. Second instar larvae spin new and larger 
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