Leaffooted pine seedbug
Leptoglossus corculus (Say) (Hemiptera: Coreidae)
Orientation to pest
The leaffooted pine seed bug, Leptoglossus corculus (Say), is a sucking insect that damages cones in pine seed orchards in the southern United States. Both adults and nymphs fed on seeds in cones of various pines, greatly reducing production of viable seed. There are several generations per year in the southern United States.
Hosts commonly attacked
The leaffooted pine seed bug commonly attacks cones of loblolly (Pinus taeda L.), slash (Pinus elliottii Engelm.), shortleaf (Pinus echinata Mill.), Virginia (Pinus virginiana Mill.), eastern white (Pinus strobus L.), pitch (Pinus rigida Mill.) and Table Mountain (Pinus pungens Lamb.) pines, as well as cones of some spruce (Picea).
Distribution
The leaffooted pine seed bug occurs throughout the eastern United States.
Images of the leaffooted pine seedbug
Figure 1. Adult leaffooted pine seedbug. See the flat, expanded lower section of hind legs | Figure 2. String of eggs of leaffooted pine seedbug | Figure 3. Nymph of leaffooted pine seedbug | Figure 4. Leaffooted pine seedbug adult feeding on immature cone of pine |
Important biological control agents related to this pest species
The parasitoid Ooencyrtus leptoglossi Yoshimoto is known to attack the eggs of this species.
Web links for information on the leaffooted pine seed bug
Articles
- DeBarr, G. L. 1979. Importance of the seedbugs Leptoglossus corculus (Say) (Hemiptera: Coreidae) and Tetyra bipunctata (H.-S.) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) and their control in southern pine seed orchards. Proceedings: a symposium on flowering and seed development in trees. Starkville, Mississippi. Southern Forest Experiment Station, pp. 330-341.