New Pest Response Guidelines - aphis - US Department of Agriculture

Identification
Reporting
Description
Forward reports of positive identifications by national specialists to PPQ-
National Identification Service (NIS) in Riverdale, Maryland, according to
Agency protocol. NIS will report the identification status of these tentative and
confirmed records to PPQ-Emergency and Domestic Programs (EDP). EDP
will report the results to all other appropriate parties.
For further information on reporting and submitting samples, refer to How to
Submit Insect Specimens on page C-1 and Taxonomic Support for Surveys on
page D-1.
Use the morphological characteristics described in this section to identify
Dendrolimus moths.
Dendrolimus pini
Adults
Sexual dimorphism in the PTL is well defined. Females are stocky, covered by
rusty brown to dark brown hairs in the abdomen and thorax respectively, large
with a wing span between 70-90mm. Although individual variation in wing
pattern and coloration is large, the female moth hind wings are normally dark
brown with no marks. The fore wings have three distinctive transverse black
lines (antemedian, postmedian and subterminal) that define very distinctive
transverse rusty-brown and grey areas (Mikkola and Stahls, 2008). The
outermost line, (subterminal) with a clear and very characteristic serrated and
undulated pattern borders the rusty-brown area formed between the
subterminal and postmedian lines, overlying an ash-grey background. In the
female, these areas are generally paler than males (Mikkola and Stahls, 2008).
The coloration of the band defined by the subterminal and postmedial lines is
very similar to that of the hind wing. Wing color outside these brown areas is
normally grey or brownish-grey. A white and/or black shaded spot is located
on the antemedial line about one third from the frontal wing edge. These
markings are very useful to distinguish the pine-tree lappet from other similar
species (for example SSM and SaSM) (Mikkola and Stahls, 2008). The female
head has a pair of big globular eyes, small ocelli and short, pectinate to nearly
filiform antennae composed of 53-60 segments (Melis, 1940; Mikkola and
Stahls, 2008) (Figure 3-1 on page 3-3).
3-2 Dendrolimus Pine Moths 12/2012-01