Pine Weevil on a damaged pine shoot
The photograph is courtesy of the family of George Dey. George took many forestry photographs in his forestry career and many are now shown on this web site. Check under ‘Groups’ and George Dey Collection.
The Pine weevil has been the bane of a forester’s life as far back as recorded time. The adult weevil, shown, has a very healthy appetite and enjoys nothing more that taking large chunks out of the bark of young trees. The photograph clearly shows the holes in the bark where the weevil has fed and also some older damage which has partially filled up with resin.
In spite of its name it will attack most species of trees and prefers those which are below or not too far above the surrounding vegetation level. Most young trees survive one or two weevils on their stems but very often many more can gather and eat large portions of the bark and girdle the stem. If the tree is not killed it is almost certainly very badly weakened and eventually gets covered by competing vegetation.
This is a pest in woodlands which have been felled and where replanting operations are being undertaken. The weevil did not reach plague proportions every year or on all sites but was noted as being very prolific after large areas of felling and following windblow. In the early part of this century and through up until after the war there are records of restocking sites being covered with little dug holes in the ground into which a bunch of some nice freshly cut pine shoots were placed. It was then someone’s role to then keep going over all these traps and collect the weevils for extermination.
The PDF shows a weevil damaged pine tree.
Groups: Animal, Insect, Plant and Fungal species in forestry, George Dey Forestry Collection