The weevil Magdalis frontalis
Il'inskii, A.I.
Lesn Khoz 6: 47
1958
Accession: 025977045
At the end of spring, the weevil Magdalis frontalis (description given) starts boring holes in the bark of pine shoots and branches and gnaws at the bast and cambium. Oleoresin flows from the wounds. Females deposit golden-yellow eggs into tiny holes made on dying branches and stems and felling residues (slash). The larvae bore twisted longitudinal tunnels in the thick of the bark and in the upper layers of the sapwood. The tunnels are close to each other, and are separated by thin walls only. The cross section of tunnels made by M. frontalis is circular (by the roundheaded pine top borer (Cerambycidae) - elliptical; by the four-spotted flatheaded borer (Buprestidae) - flat). The larvae overwinter in pupal cases. Exit holes remain after the emergence of the weevils. During the first years after felling the weevil may multiply in great numbers on slash-covered areas and may damage regrowth and crops. Control measures are sanitary condition of the forest, destruction of slash, removal and burning of affected pine trees in the fall. Treatment of regrowth and crops with DDT and BHC is probably effective.