Cone entomofauna of whitebark pine and alpine larch (Pinaceae): potential impact of Leptoglossus occidentalis (Hemiptera: Coreidae) and a new record of Strobilomyia macalpinei (Diptera: Anthomyiidae)

Abstract

AbstractLaboratory and field feeding tests with Leptoglossus occidentalis Heidemann demonstrated that both immature and mature seed bugs can use cones and foliage of whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis Engelmann, as a food source for 1- to 2-week periods. Damage to unprotected whitebark pine cones by seed bugs ranged from 0.3 to 2.1% of seeds per cone. Total insect damage ranged from 0.4 to 7.1% of seeds per cone. A seed chalcid, Megastigmus Dalman. sp. (Hymenoptera: Torymidae), was documented for the first time on whitebark pine and was found in 4.7% of examined seeds at one site. The larch cone fly, Strobilomyia macalpinei Michelsen, was reared from cones of alpine larch, Larix lyallii Parl., from the Bitterroot Range of Montana. This is the first record of this species in the United States and the first since its description in 1988. Ninety-four percent of a sample of alpine larch cones were damaged by cone fly larvae and 64% contained larvae or puparia.