nessee. The larvae feed on the cones of various conifers, such as 
white pine, spruce, balsam fir, and hemlock (6032). 
Gypsonoma haimbachiana (Kft.), has been recorded from On- 
tario, from the northern tier of States from New York to Michi- 
gan and south through the midwestern states of Missouri, 
Oklahoma, Arkansas to Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Its 
hosts are listed as various poplars. The adult is ash gray and has 
a wingspread of 18 to 17 mm. The basal portion of the forewing 
is darker than the apical portion. Full-grown larvae are pale and 
from 13 to 17 mm. long. The head is brownish-yellow; the thoracic 
shield, brownish-yellow edged with brown; and the anal shield, 
brown or grayish. 
Winter is spent mostly as young larvae either in silk covered, 
shallow pits excavated in healed-over borer entrance holes, in the 
margins of corky bark ridges below leaf bases or in depressions of 
leaf scars. Lesser numbers of late-instar larvae overwinter in 
hollowed out terminal buds. When the younger larvae resume 
activity in the spring, they enter the tender, new shoots to feed 
and complete their development. When the older overwintering 
larvae resume feeding in the spring, they frequently kill the bud 
and up to 10 inches of the terminal. There appears to be four or 
five generations per year in the Mississippi Delta region (540). 
This is one of the most destructive of the insects that damage 
young trees of eastern cottonwood. Damaged trees are stunted, 
have crooked trunks, and produce too many limbs. This leads to a 
great reduction in the quality and quantity of merchantable pulp- 
wood, sawlogs, or veneer from these trees. 
Proteoteras aesculana Riley, the maple seed caterpillar, occurs 
throughout southern Canada and the Northern States, south to 
Tennessee. The adult is olive-green with yellow, gray, and black 
markings, and has a wingspread of 11 to 18 mm. The larvae bore 
in the seeds, leaf stalks, and terminal twigs of horse chestnut and 
maple and sometimes cause serious injury. Seedlings in nurseries 
have been heavily attacked. Adults emerge in July and August. 
The boxelder twig borer, Proteoteras willingana Kft., attacks . 
boxelder and maple in many of the Northern and Midwestern 
States and southern Canada. The adult is white to brownish, 
marked with streaks, rings, and clusters of yellowish-tan to black 
scales; it has a wingspread of 11 to 18 mm. The larva destroys 
dormant leaf buds in the fall and early spring. Later in the spring, 
it burrows in succulent twigs (fig. 146), causing the formation of 
spindle-shaped galls (594). These galls become woody when they 
dry out. This usually prevents further terminal growth. Severe 
damage has been recorded in shelterbelt plantings in the Prairie 
Provinces of Canada. 
The spruce bud moth, Zeiraphera ratzeburgiana (Ratz.), an 
apparent introduction from Europe late in the 19th century, now 
occurs throughout the range of spruce in northern United States 
and Canada (595). In addition to spruce, it feeds on several other 
conifers, especially fir. The adult is light brown and has a wing- 
spread of about 12 mm. The forewings have darker diagonal 
markings, and the outer margins are straight. Full-grown larvae 
are yellowish or grayish green and about 18 mm. long. 
369 
