Michael E. Mongtomery1, Richard McDonald2, Laura Schwartzberg3

1
Scymnus (Pullus) coniferarum Crotch 1874
(Coleoptera Coccinellidae) An Adelgid Predator
Native to the Western United States
Michael E. Mongtomery1, Richard McDonald2, Laura
Schwartzberg3 1US Forest Service, Northern
Research Station, Hamden, CT 2Symbiont, Sugar
Grove, NC 3South Salem, NY
Figure 4. Collection records of Scymnus (P.)
coniferarum based on museum specimens shaded
general area of many collections with dots
showing peripheral localities (from Gordon 1985)
red rectangle is area of recent collections in
the Seattle area by the authors.
Since it has been found in northern Idaho and
southern Arizona, its climate range seems to be
broad. The type specimens collected in 1874 were
from pine and an unpublished thesis by Whitehead
stated that large numbers of S. coniferarum were
collected from lodgepole pine and Monterey pine
infested with woolly adelgid. The extensive
survey for predators on hemlock by Kohler (2007)
found only a single specimen of S. coniferarum.
We collected S. coniferarum from western hemlock,
Tsuga heterophylla infested with Adelges tsugae
(Table 1). We also sampled fir and western white
pine infested with S. coniferarum, but did not
recover this lady beetle. Its distribution among
trees is patchy, with trees in locations exposed
to direct sunlight favored.
Figure 1. Scymnus (Pullus) coniferarum. Photo by
Nathan Havill.
The shape of the male genitalia is a primary
character that taxonomists use to identify
Scymnus species and the sipho can be used to
readily distinguish these two species (Fig. 3).
Figure 3. Male genitalia of Scymnus (Pullus)
coniferarum and S. (P.) suturalis (a, b
genitalia c, d sipho).
References Cited 
Crotch, GR. 1873. Revision of the Coccinellidae
of the United States. Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc.
(Phila.) 4 363-382. Gordon, RD. 1976. The
Scymnini (Coleoptera Coccinellidae) of the
United States and Canada Key to genera and
revision of Scymnus, Nephus, and Diomus. Bull.
Buffalo Soc. Nat. Sci. 28 1-71. Gordon, RD.
1985. The Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) of America
North of Mexico. J. New York Entomol. Soc. 93
1-912. Kohler, GR. 2007. Predators associated
with hemlock woolly adelgid (Hemiptera
Adelgidae) infested western hemlock in the
Pacific Northwest 121 pages, Dept. Forest Sci.,
Oregon State Unviersity Montgomery, ME, Lyon, SM.
1996. Natural enemies of adelgids in North
America Their prospect for biological control of
Adelges tsugae (Homoptera Adelgidae), pp.
89-102. In SM Salom, TC Tigner, RC Reardon
(eds.). Proceedings of the First Hemlock
Woolly Adelgid Review, Charlottesville, VA, Oct.
12, 1995. USDA Forest Service, FHTET,Morgantown,
WV.