Hi,
I am emailing from Houston, TX. Recently my neighbor discovered
hundreds of caterpillar like insect larvae on his pine tree. They are
about 1/2 inch in length, yellow-ish with black dots on their back.
There seem to be a few leg-like structures near the head. I did my
google search and am leaning towards 'pine sawfly larvae' as the
closest match.
The tree is deteriorating. It's losing its needles, and some branches
are completely free of needles. He treated the tree with a spray
insecticide yesterday (sorry, don't know which one).
My questions, is it likely to observe pine sawfly larvae in November
in Southern Texas? I am afraid I miss-identified the problem. Is there
anything else we can do, in particular to prevent the spreading of the
insect from one tree to the next (which, in this case, would be
mine....).
Thanks,
Tim.