Family: Curculionidae
Subfamily: Molytinae
Length: 4.5-6.0 mm
Pissodes strobi infests various pines but is especially damaging to White Pine stands.
The thirty or so species of Pissodes are not always easy to distinguish; probably several species are found in West Virginia. Pissodes are noted pests of conifers.
Given their economic importance, it is surprising how little life history research has been done in the genus Pissodes. One interesting study of Pissodes schwarzi revealed that the males release a sex pheromone that attracts females. Researchers set up pitfall traps, using three kinds of bait: a male beetle, a female beetle, a piece of fresh pine, and also a control with no bait at all. The traps baited with male beetles captured 46 females, while none of the other traps captured any weevils at all.
Insects of West Virginia
