Shieldbacked pine seed bug, Tetyra bipunctata (H.-S) (12, 14, 15, 16, 28)

BIOLOGY. - The shieldbacked pine seed bug overwinters as an adult in the litter. Eggs (8 to 14) are laid in two alternate rows on living pine needles or in a random group on a cone. Older nymphs and adults feed primarily on seed within cones. In the Lake States, the shieldbacked pine seed bug has only one generation per year. This is also apparently true in the South, where overwintered adults are not observed feeding in seed orchards until early summer.

INSECT IDENTIFICATION. - Adults and nymphs have a shieldlike 11stinkbug" shape. Their color varies from gray in the early stages to dark reddish-brown with black markings as adults. Adults are about 1.5 cm long. The eggs are small, bright-green spheres about 1.5 mm in diameter.

Adult. (3X)

Egg mass on loblolly pine cone. (3X)

DAMAGE IDENTIFICATION. - Feeding by the nymphs and adults of the shieldbacked pine seed bug is limited to nearly mature seed. Much of this seed damage can be detected by examining mature seeds. These damaged seeds cannot be distinguished either ocularly or radiographically from seeds damaged late in the growing season by the leaffooted pine seed bug.

IMPORTANCE. - The shieldbacked pine seed bug is found throughout the South, and its hosts include all the major pine species. Peak populations of this seed bug coincide with cone harvest, when the bugs are most frequently observed in seed orchards. Since this insect has only one generation each year and feeding is limited to nearly mature seed, the damage potential of the shieldbacked pine seed bug is not nearly as great as that of the leaffooted pine seed bug.