Oligonychus ununguis | |
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A spruce spider mite | |
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Species: | O. ununguis |
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Oligonychus ununguis (Jacobi, 1905) | |
Oligonychus ununguis, the spruce spider mite, is a globally widespread pest of spruce. [1] Though not particularly important in the forest, it has been bothersome on planted spruce in the Prairie Provinces, and is considered one of the most important pests of spruce plantations in Ontario. As well, ornamental specimens of spruce and most other conifers throughout the range often suffer damage. The pest is barely visible without the aid of a magnifier and is rarely noticed until discoloured foliage is found on an affected tree. To check for the presence of mites, sharply jar suspected foliage over a piece of white paper, and watch for movement of tiny objects. If a red stain appears when the objects are smeared against the paper, the probability is high that spider mites are present.
Spruce spider mites suck sap from needles and shoots, causing the foliage to become mottled. The fine silk webbing that they spin as they move about the needles catches dust and further impairs the appearance of the host tree. Mites tend to become particularly numerous and destructive during hot dry seasons. [2] Heavy infestations can lead to the death of seedlings and transplants. [3] They are readily dispersed by wind and by the distribution of infected nursery stock.
The pest overwinters in the egg stage, mostly on the twigs. In the Prairie Provinces, the eggs hatch in May. The young, which to the layperson resemble the adult mite, develop into first generation adults by early June. By mid-June, the female, only about 0.5 mm long, lays 40 to 50 eggs on the foliage. These eggs give rise to a second generation of adult mites in late June, and 3 to 6 generations follow throughout summer and early fall. The overwintering eggs are laid from September to the onset of severe frost.
Tetranychus urticae is a species of plant-feeding mite generally considered to be a pest. It is the most widely known member of the family Tetranychidae or spider mites. Its genome was fully sequenced in 2011, and was the first genome sequence from any chelicerate.
Spider mites are members of the Acari (mite) family Tetranychidae, which includes about 1,200 species. They generally live on the undersides of leaves of plants, where they may spin protective silk webs, and they can cause damage by puncturing the plant cells to feed. Spider mites are known to feed on several hundred species of plants.
Larix laricina, commonly known as the tamarack, hackmatack, eastern larch, black larch, red larch, or American larch, is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and also south into the upper northeastern United States from Minnesota to Cranesville Swamp, West Virginia; there is also an isolated population in central Alaska. The word akemantak is an Algonquian name for the species and means "wood used for snowshoes".
The hemlock woolly adelgid, or HWA, is an insect of the order Hemiptera native to East Asia. It feeds by sucking sap from hemlock and spruce trees. In its native range, HWA is not a serious pest because populations are managed by natural predators and parasitoids and by host resistance. In eastern North America it is a destructive pest that threatens the eastern hemlock and the Carolina hemlock. HWA is also found in western North America, where it has likely been present for thousands of years. In western North America, it primarily attacks western hemlock Tsuga heterophylla and has only caused minor damage due to natural predators and host resistance. Accidentally introduced to North America from Japan, HWA was first found in the eastern United States near Richmond, Virginia, in 1951. The pest is now found from northern Georgia to coastal Maine and southwestern Nova Scotia. As of 2015, 90% of the geographic range of eastern hemlock in North America has been affected by HWA.
Orgyia antiqua, the rusty tussock moth or vapourer, is a moth in the family Erebidae.
The gall adelgid is an adelgid species that produces galls in spruce trees. They infect the new buds of native spruce trees in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in the spring. They also attack blue spruce to a lesser degree. The insects complete two generations within the year. They require two different trees for its life cycle, the second being the Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir. They may also attack Sitka, Engelmann, or white spruce. The many different species of adelgids produce different galls on different spruce species.
The green stink bug or green soldier bug is a stink bug of the family Pentatomidae.
Choristoneura fumiferana, the eastern spruce budworm, is a species of moth of the family Tortricidae native to the eastern United States and Canada. The caterpillars feed on the needles of spruce and fir trees. Eastern spruce budworm populations can experience significant oscillations, with large outbreaks sometimes resulting in wide scale tree mortality. The first recorded outbreaks of the spruce budworm in the United States occurred in about 1807, and since 1909 there have been waves of budworm outbreaks throughout the eastern United States and Canada. In Canada, the major outbreaks occurred in periods circa 1910–20, c. 1940–50, and c. 1970–80, each of which impacted millions of hectares of forest. Longer-term tree-ring studies suggest that spruce budworm outbreaks have been recurring approximately every three decades since the 16th century, and paleoecological studies suggest the spruce budworm has been breaking out in eastern North America for thousands of years.
Cydia strobilella, the spruce seed moth, is a moth of the family Tortricidae. It is found in Europe.
Dendroctonus rufipennis, the spruce beetle, is a species of bark beetle native to British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Northern Manitoba, the Yukon, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Maine. They are known to destroy forests of spruce trees including Engelmann, White, Sitka, and Colorado blue spruce. Adults average 4 to 7 mm in length.
Coleotechnites piceaella is a moth of the family Gelechiidae. It is found in north-eastern United States and Canada. It is an introduced species in Europe and was first recorded from Great Britain in 1952, then Germany in 1963 and has expanded from there over all of central Europe, towards France, Italy and Hungary.
Archips goyerana, the baldcypress leafroller, is a moth of the family Tortricidae.
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. 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. It was recorded from China in 2009. Occasionally abundant, often in conjunction with epidemics of the spruce budworm, the spruce coneworm 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. When abundant, it can be a serious pest "particularly on white spruce".
Bryobia is a genus of mites in the spider mite family, Tetranychidae. The taxonomy of the genus is difficult. The genus has been revised several times. It is difficult to distinguish these tiny species from each other on the basis of morphological characters, and there is little agreement on which characteristics are of importance. Also, species can be variable in morphology. Over 130 species have been described, but many of the names are likely synonyms.
Oligonychus is a genus of mites in the family Tetranychidae, the spider mites. Many members of this genus are familiar pests of plants. There are about 200 described species.
Choristoneura freemani, the western spruce budworm, is a species of moth of the family Tortricidae. It is the most destructive defoliator of coniferous forests in western North America.
The pine needle scale insect Chionaspis pinifoliae Fitch is a common pest on pine, spruce and other conifers across Canada and throughout the United States. The pest has been particularly persistent on planted spruce in the Prairie Provinces in both rural and urban settings. In heavy infestations, the needles appear to be flecked with white. The insect overwinters in the egg stage under the white covering of the scale. In Saskatchewan, hatching dates vary from late May to late June. The newly hatched “crawlers” disperse, settle on old or new needles and begin scale development.
Spruce sawflies are various sawfly species found in North America that feed on spruce. There are multiple species of sawflies known as spruce sawflies, including species in the genera Gilpinia, Pikonema, Pristiphora, and Cephalcia. Each kind of sawfly attacks particular parts of the spruce as larvae during different times of the year.
Anthocoris nemoralis is a true bug in the family Anthocoridae. The species is native to Europe and is introduced in North America. It is a predator of aphids, spider mites and jumping plant lice, and is therefore used as a biological pest control agent.