Species Hylobius pales - Pales Weevil

Hylobius pales (Herbst 1797)

5.8‒11.4 mm(1)

e. NA (NS‒FL to AB‒TX)(2)(3)

Pine forests

Adults chew into twigs of young pine saplings; preferred hosts: White, Pitch, Loblolly, and Shortleaf Pines

Adults largely nocturnal, attracted to freshly-cut pines. Females lay eggs in stumps of recently killed or cut trees in spring. Larvae mature by mid-summer. In the north, they overwinter as adults under litter or as larvae in the roots. In the south, the overwinter as adults in the soil. They feed, mate, and lay eggs in roots of pine stumps or weakened trees. Larvae feed under bark until early fall, then form cells in sapwood where they pupate. In the north, the life cycle in 2 years; in the south, 1 year with a partial 2nd generation.(4)

Can be a pest in Chrismas-tree and other pine plantations. The first evidence of attack is a series of small holes/pits in the bark(4)

Pachylobius picivorus has tibiae with dilated outer apical angles

Species profile (Nord et al. 1984)(6)