Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
The lodgepole terminal weevil, Pissodes terminalis Hopping, is the only member of its genus that consistently oviposits in the expanding terminal shoots of its hosts (Stark and Wood 1964). The white pine weevil, Pissodes strobi (Peck), oviposits in the year old shoot of spruce and pine (Wallace and Sullivan 1985) and other Pissodes species have their oviposition sites on boles, root collars, and slash (Furniss and Carolin 1977). In southern British Columbia, P. terminalis is primarily univoltine although adults may live and oviposit for 2 or more years. Although its life cycle is closely synchronized with terminal phenology, its life history is extremely variable (Cameron and Stark 1989). Adults are active in late spring to early summer, when they can be found feeding on the tissues of the developing terminal shoot and foliage. Soon after this maturation feeding, mating occurs, and oviposition punctures are excavated in the bark of the new terminal. Usually a single egg is deposited into each puncture (Drouin et al. 1963; Stark and Wood 1964; Maclauchlan 1992).