F-519912 
FIGURE 177.—Larvae of Neo- 
diprion pratti pratti, the 
Virginia pine sawfly. 
Eggs are deposited individually within slits made by the female 
Ovipositor along the flat sides of needles, usually before the end 
of November. There is one generation per year (634, 536). 
Prior to the development of an outbreak in Maryland, Virginia, 
and North Carolina during the late fifties, this species was not 
considered an important pest in the Middle Atlantic States. Sur- 
prisingly, the outbreak occurring at that time swept over more 
than 14 million acres of pine and pine-hardwood type before it 
subsided. Tree mortality was not serious although some scattered 
killing was reported, but growth loss was severe. 
White-footed mice and ants destroy large numbers of cocoons 
and prepupae in heavy infestations. The hymenopteron, Hxen- 
terus canadensis Provancher, is also an effective parasite of un- 
cocooned prepupae on the ground (86). Dahlbominus fuscipennis 
(Zett.), an introduced parasite of sawfly cocoons, has been liber- 
ated and established in infested stands in Virginia. A native 
polyhedrosis virus has destroyed up to 70 percent of sawfly larvae 
when applied from an airplane (485). 
The jack-pine sawfly, Neodiprion pratti banksianae Rohwer, 
occurs in southeastern Canada from New Brunswick to Manitoba, 
and in the Lake States. Jack pine is the favored host, but red and 
Scotch pines are occasionally attacked by larvae if they are grow- 
ing with heavily infested jack pine. Full-grown larvae are yellow- 
ish-green and about 22 mm. long. The head is black and there are 
two longitudinal pale greenish-gray stripes running down the 
back. There is also a single row of 11 black spots on each side. 
Winter is spent in the egg stage and hatching occurs in May or 
June. The larvae feed gregariously on previous year’s needles 
only. Feeding is completed by early July. The larvae then drop to 
442 
