Anybody seen these things before? They appear to really enjoy pine needles
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/30024/IMG_20130925_134139_053.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/30024/IMG_20130925_133610_159.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/30024/IMG_20130925_134121_175.jpg)
I'm thinking some kind of sawfly. The larvae will have 6 or more pairs of prolegs. These are the ones on the back end of the larvae. The first 3 pairs toward the head will be the true legs like those on any insect when they become adults. I'm seeing at least 6 pairs of prolegs on those.
Could it be tip moth larvae?
I think that is exactly what they are.
Those things are giving us a very hard time. I've seen them hitting slash and lob the past two years
Only known them to bother loblolly
They are red headed pine sawfly I think. Neodiprion lecontei (Fitch) Affect longleaf and slash pine.
Figure 9 shows a photo on this site.
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/trees/sawfly/pine_sawflies.htm
I find them from time to time eating the needles of slash, loblolly and longleaf pines. Occasionally, they will kill a tree but usually they just eat some needles and move on. They are pine sawflies. They also make them with black heads and there is an imported variety with a red head.
The pine tip moth damage that I have seen will usually kill the terminal bud or lateral bud on a relatively young tree and the tip will bend at about 70° to 80°. I am not a forester and they could probably tell you better.
I had to really hunt for some pine sawflies last week to show my high school class (5 mile walk to find any).
Red headed sawflies aren't those very bad?
There's about 12 acres with 50 or so trees chewed on (that you can see from the road around it)...should I be concerned?
The danger zone is when the trees are between about 3' and 12' tall. After that, they grow out of the danger zone. Here is a pretty good article from Auburn University.
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/enpl/bulletins/redheadedpinesawfly/redheadedpinesawfly.htm
Thank you WDH for the Auburn link on sawflies.
Thank you both. I think these are the flies that bite you through your shirt when you're on the tractor in the woods. They sound like a buzzsaw.
I hate that when it happens.
Biggest scare here is spruce budworm. But mostly if you have old trees or trees suffering to begin with. Young trees will come through unless it's a very serious onslaught.