Georgia FFA Forestry CDE

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Georgia FFAForestry CDE

• Insects

By Josh Fleming Jenkins Co. FFA Advisor
May 2007
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Insects List

• Ambrosia Beetle
• Aphids
• Bagworm
• Black Turpentine Beetle
• Conifer Sawflies
• Cicada
• Eastern Tent Caterpillar
• Fall Webworm
• Gypsy Moth
• Insect Gall

• Ips Engraver Beetle
• Locust Borer
• Nantucket Pine Tip Moth
• Orangestriped Oakworm
• Pales Weevil
• Pine Webworm
• Scales
• Southern Pine Beetle
• Southern Pine Sawer

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Ambrosia Beetle
D A M A G E
TOP VIEW
ID TIP Note Points on Abdomen
FRASS
1/16 to 1/4 long, stout bodied the mature
color is dark reddish brown
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Ambrosia Beetle
Damage from beetle boring into tree trunk
Ambrosia Beetle Larva Inside Tree Trunk
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Aphids

• Description of Adult-
• 1/32 to 1/4 inch long
• Soft-bodied, pear-shaped.
• Varying in color from
• red, yellow, green, blue brown, gray, or black.
• Nymphs resemble adults but are smaller and lack
  wings.

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Aphids
Sooty Mold, a black, sooty growth on needles,
leaves and/or branches is sometimes found growing
on the honeydew that is excreted by Aphids. Some
types of ants can be seen collecting the
secretions of the Aphid.
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Bagworm
Adult females dont fly and are confined to the
bag for life, males do fly and will locate
females in the fall to mate. The bagworm can
extend out of the bag to feed, but will retract
back into the bag when threatened. Often found
in bald cypress, junipers, arborvitae, and other
conifers
The bag that encompasses the bagworm is made of
silk, portions of leaves, and twigs, the bag can
be 2 long or more.
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Black Turpentine Beetle
Side View Top View
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Black Turpentine Beetle
Pitch Tubes from this beetle are about the size
of a quarter and are seldom found more than 10
off the ground. This beetle prefers to enter a
tree through some type of damaged area
Mechanical Damage, naval store operation, and
lightning are common points of entrance into a
tree. Outbreaks are often preceded by drought.
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Conifer Sawfly
Loblolly Pine Sawfly Larva
White Pine Sawfly Larva
Just a few examples of the different types of
Conifer Sawflies which affect Georgia Trees.
Introduced Pine Sawfly Larva
Red-headed Pine Sawfly Larva
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Conifer Sawfly
Sawfly adults are broad-waisted wasps, and the
female has a serrated ovipositor which allows
them to saw little slits in the needles where
eggs are laid. Once the eggs hatch, the larva
begin to feed on the foliage of the host plant.
Some species have one generation per year, while
others may have 3 or more generations per year.
The larva stage of each generation will severely
defoliate the host plant, especially with more
than one generation per year.
Adult Red-headed Pine Sawfly
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Cicada

• Cicadas come in 2 major varieties, Annual or
  periodical. Annual cicadas are present each
  year, and their shells can be seen on tree trunks
  occasionally. Periodical cicadas emerge once
  every 13 or 17 years. 17 year cicadas usually
  occur in the northern US, and the 13 year cicadas
  usually occur in the southern US. In Georgia,
  the last 13 year brood occurred in 1998, and the
  last 17 year brood occurred in 2004.

Adult
Shell
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Cicada
Female cicadas damage trees by ovipositing on
twigs and small branches. Eggs are laid in the Y
shaped pits of living twigs. Each pit may
contain up to 20 eggs. A female may lay up to
600 eggs. Once they hatch the nymphs drop to the
ground, burrow underground, locate a suitable
rootlet for feeding and begin to suck juices from
the roots as they develop into an adult. This
process may take up to 17 years from start to
finish. At the end of the cycle, the Adults will
emerge between May and June.
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Eastern Tent Caterpillar
A Silk Tent will house the larva as the feed on
tree foliage. These tents can be found in the
forks of limbs and branches and are used as a
base for feeding larva, which venture out to
different branches to feed.
Full grown caterpillars reach about 1.6 in
length. Color varies, but generally have black
heads, mid-dorsal white stripe, and lateral white
stripes between each pair of legs.
The adult moths are light brown with 2 diagonal
white stripes across the back side of the wings.
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Eastern Tent Caterpillar
Total defoliation of the tree foliage can occur
with large broods of the Eastern Tent
Caterpillar. Infestations of this size warrant
drastic control measures to ensure that fruit
crops are not lost for the current year.
The egg mass of this caterpillar is laid on twigs
of the tree species that is a suitable hosts for
this insect. Common host trees are cherry, apple
and plum trees. Control of this insect ranges
from removing egg masses from the tree, hand
picking caterpillars from the tree after
hatching, or using chemical control.
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Fall Webworm
The Fall Webworm is a very common pest to Pecan,
Sourwood, and Persimmon trees. This worm will
construct large, unsightly webs made of silk
around the leaves that it is feeding on. Often
these webs will cover entire branches and may
contain hundreds of worms. This insect can
cause sever losses to commercial growers, but for
most individuals, the problem is ugly webs
present in their trees.
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Fall Webworm
The Fall Webworm adult varies in appearance,
usually being an all white moth, but it can have
light brown coloring on its wings. The Pupa of
the moth is dark in color and is around 3/8 to
1/2 in length. The activities of the Fall
Webworm larva go mostly unnoticed until late
summer or early fall when the grey silk nests
begin to appear in the host trees.
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Gypsy Moth
The Gypsy Moth Caterpillar is a serious spring
defoliator of forest and shade trees. The Egg
mass can be seen on tree trunks and branches.
The caterpillar can be found in the spring of the
year feeding on tree foliage, usually Oak Trees,
and is usually 1.5 to 2 long. The caterpillar
can be identified by a series of blue and red
dots along its back. The male Moth is brown in
color, with large feathery antennae, the female
is white in color with some colored markings on
the wings. This pest has been eradicated from
Georgia 3 times since 1991, but new infestations
are easily sparked when people unknowingly
transport egg masses, caterpillars, or pupa from
infested areas.
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Insect Gall
Plant Galls can be caused by numerous different
insects. The gall itself can be caused by
Chemical Secretions from adult insects while
laying eggs, or an abnormal reaction from the
plant to the saliva of the feeding larva. Often
times it is easier to identify the insect by the
gall, than actually seeing the insect. The
location of the gall on the plant is very useful
in identifying the insect. The following link
will connect you with a table, which will aid in
identifying insects from their galls. Forest
Health Guide for Georgia Foresters - Gall Insects
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Ips Engraver Beetle
The Ips Engraver Beetle can easily be identified
by its scooped out rear end when compared to the
Southern Pine Beetle. This beetle carves long
tunnels into the tree trunk, just beneath the
bark. This insect does not always produce pitch
tubes on the trees it feeds on, but boring dust
can often be seen on tree bark. If a pitch tube
can be seen, it usually occurs on the bark and
not in a crevice. These beetles prefer to infest
a stressed tree, but will infest healthy trees
during an outbreak.
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Locust Borer
The cause for concern from the Locust Borer is
the large grub like larva stage. These insects
feed on live wood, therefore will not enter
debarked trees. This is one reason why when logs
are decked after harvest for long periods of time
sever loses can occur.
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Nantucket Pine Tip Moth
Adult Moth on pine needle, adults are about 1/4
in length with 1/2 wing span, with irregular
brick red and copper patches on wings.
Larva Feeding at base of needles.
This moth causes the most damage to recently
planted pines up to 15 ft in height. Loblolly
and shortleaf pine are the favored hosts, but the
moth will infest slash and longleaf if conditions
are favorable. Sever stunting and deformation of
younger trees can result from repeated attacks of
this pine tip moth.
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Orangestriped Oakworm
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Orangestriped Oakworm
The orangestriped oakworm feeds on various oaks
and sometimes birch and hickory. Mature
caterpillars are just over 1 ½ inches long, black
with eight longitudinal orange-yellow stripes.
They also have two black spines on the second
thoracic segment and smaller spines on each
succeeding segment.
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Pales Weevil
Weevils that debark pine seedlings are the pales,
and pitch-eating. These weevils damage seedlings
by chewing bark from the stem above and below the
ground. Seedlings are often girdled. Damage can
be prevented or reduced when conditions favoring
their development are avoided. Debarking weevils
are attracted to recently logged areas with pine
stumps.
Adult weevils deposit eggs in roots of freshly
cut pine stumps or buried slash. The larvae hatch
in a few days and begin feeding beneath the bark.
Upon emergence the new adults will seek out
seedlings to feed on. The newly emerging weevils
and older adults attack seedlings planted on or
adjacent to these cut over areas.
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Pales Weevil
Guidelines to reduce weevil damage
1. Delay planting one year on cutover pine sites
if harvest cannot be completed before July. 2.
If planting cannot be delayed the seedlings
should be dipped in an approved insecticide or
top sprayed in the nursery before lifting.
3. Delay cuttings/ thinnings that are adjacent
to recently planted pines until the seedlings are
3-4 years old. 4. Planted seedlings can be
sprayed in the field with an approved insecticide
if weevils begin to appear.
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Pine Webworm
Caterpillars are approximately 3/4 inch in length
at maturity tan to gray with two darker
longitudinal stripes along each side. The larvae
feed on the needles constructing masses of frass
bound together with silk on the seedlings. These
masses of excrement are usually 3 to 5 inches
long surrounding the twigs and enclosing the
basal portions of the needles. No control is
necessary.
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Scales
Scale insects can be injurious to pines in seed
orchards and a nuisance in Christmas tree
plantations. This group of insects is very large
containing minute and highly specialized
individuals. Different species attack different
parts of the host, branches and twigs being
frequently infested. After the first molt the
females lose their legs and antennae and become
immobile and sessile. A waxy covering is then
secreted over their body. This covering may be in
the form of powder, plates or drops of resin. The
females remain under the covering where they lay
eggs and give birth to living young. The eggs are
never laid in the open. There may be one to six
generations per year varying with species and
geographical location.
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Southern Pine Beetle
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Southern Pine Beetle

• The southern pine beetle is the most destructive
  pine bark beetle in the South. Randomly flying
  females locate susceptible trees, which are
  called focus trees.
• The SPB attacks all species of southern yellow
  pines including eastern white pine. It is
  particularly destructive in over mature and
  overcrowded stands. Outbreaks are cyclic and are
  usually preceded by drought or flooding.

• Trees are killed when thousands of adult beetles
  bore underneath the bark to feed and lay eggs.
  The female beetles construct winding S-shaped
  galleries in the cambium while feeding and laying
  eggs. Adult beetles carry blue stain fungi and
  these fungi once introduced into trees will
  proliferate into the sapwood stopping water
  movement within the tree.
• The usual signs of attack on the outside of trees
  will be pitch tubes in bark crevices when formed.

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Southern Pine Sawyer
Insects that attack and bore into living trees or
freshly cut logs are generally referred to as
wood borers. Softwood species are most often used
for log homes, and include pine, spruce, fir,
hemlock, northern white cedar, western red cedar,
and cypress. In warm weather, freshly cut logs of
all softwoods are frequently attacked within a
few days after tree felling. These beetles do not
infest logs that have been debarked therefore,
rapid utilization of felled logs is essential to
prevent attacks. Logs that are decked for several
weeks often sustain heavy attacks from these
beetles.
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THE END!!!
Created May 2007