| Dioryctria reniculelloides | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Pyralidae |
| Genus: | Dioryctria |
| Species: | D. reniculelloides |
| Binomial name | |
| Dioryctria reniculelloides Mutuura & Munroe, 1973 | |
Dioryctria reniculelloides, the spruce coneworm, is a moth of the family Pyralidae. The species was first described by Akira Mutuura and Eugene G. Munroe in 1973. [1] [2] [3] It is found from Nova Scotia to Alaska, south in the east to New York, and south in the west to California and New Mexico. [4] It was recorded from China in 2009. [5] Occasionally abundant, often in conjunction with epidemics of the spruce budworm, the spruce coneworm (Dioryctria reniculelloidesMutuura & Munroe) occurs through most or all of the range of spruce in North America, feeding on new foliage and cones of spruce, and often balsam fir (Ives & Wong 1988). [6] When abundant, it can be a serious pest "particularly on white spruce" (Hedlin et al. 1980). [7]
The wingspan is 9.5–11 mm. [8] Adults are on wing from June to August in one generation per year.
The larvae feed on Picea , Pseudotsuga menziesii , Tsuga , Abies and Pinus contorta . Larvae of the spruce budworm sometimes cause superficial damage on cones, but their effect on the seed crop is minimal (Ives & Wong 1988), [6] at least in central Canada. Capable of causing less than 10% of a seed crop, the larvae of the cone cochylid ( Henricus fuscodorsana Kearfott) feed in the cones, damaging scales and seed (Hedlin et al. 1980). [7] The species overwinters as a first-instar larva. Pupation takes place in late June and early July.