Description: Adults are dark brown to black, medium-sized, snout beetles. Snouts are slightly curved and of medium length. Larvae are white, legless grubs with reddish-brown heads.

Hosts: Various species of pines

Damage: Adult weevils chew small holes in the bark of young pine trees or small branches of larger trees. Young trees or branches may be girdled and killed. Larvae feed in the phloem at the wood-bark interface, making irregular tunnels that score the wood. Pales weevils are serious pests of pine seedlings.

Life Cycle: Adults overwinter in the soil. They become active in the spring, congregating near freshly cut stumps. In Georgia, adults are often active throughout the year in warm winters. Females burrow underground, chew small niches in root bark, and lay one to three eggs. Young larvae feed in bark phloem and grow to a length of about 12 mm. Mature larvae plug their galleries with wood shavings and pupate in a chamber in the bark or within the sapwood. Adults usually emerge by the end of September and feed for a period before entering diapause. Adults are long lived and may survive two consecutive winters.

Control: (1) Do not replant cut-over areas until the third season; (2) Remove or treat stumps; (3) Protect seedling transplants by dipping in insecticide before planting or by treating the base of each tree immediately after planting; (4) Control adults when insects or feeding damage is evident by spraying the entire planting. Control usually is not practical to prevent injury to larger trees under forest situations.

Pales Weevil
Photo by: Wayne Dixon, Fla Division of Forestry

Pales WeevilPhoto by: Gerald Lenhard, LSU

Pales Weevil adult feeding
Photo by: Herbert Pase III