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How to identify it
- Adults are about 1/4 inch (6 to 8 mm) long, reddish brown to gray or black, with a long curved snout and pale spots on the thorax and toward the rear of the wing covers.[1][3]
- Grubs are plump, white, curved and legless with brown to orange heads, and they pupate in 'chip cocoons' of wood fibers under the bark.[1][3]
Look-alikes
| Look-alike | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| White pine weevil | A close relative in the same genus, Pissodes.[2] |
| Pine bark beetles | Infestations often occur together with bark beetle attacks on stressed southern pines.[3] |
Where it lives
Native to North America; it attacks native southeastern pines and has been introduced elsewhere, including South Africa in 1942.[2][3]
Biology and life cycle
UGA reports adults active in fall and winter, laying eggs in the inner bark, with new adults emerging in March to April; UMass notes adults in April or May in the North.[2][3]
There is one generation a year in Georgia; UMass says the life cycle can take one to two years depending on climate.[2][3]
Damage and signs
- Grubs feed under the bark, mostly in the bottom 10 feet of the trunk, and can girdle and kill trees; NC State reports trees up to 36 feet tall killed.[1]
- It prefers dying or stressed trees, fresh stumps and windblown trees, and wounds can let in the pitch canker fungus.[1][2][3]
- Fading crowns in fall or winter and browning shoots are common signs.[2][3]
Health risk
Control
Prevention
Keep trees vigorous, especially by watering specimen trees during long dry spells; healthy, fast-growing pines resist attack.[1]
Sanitation
Remove stumps and woody debris that serve as breeding sites.[2]
Pesticides
For valuable trees where weevils are present, NC State suggests a pyrethroid in fall as weevils become active, and possibly in April or May.[1]
Common questions
Sources
- NC State Extension, “Deodar Weevil / Eastern Pine Weevil (PDIC Factsheet).” content.ces.ncsu.edu/deodar-weevil-or-eastern-pine-weevil (accessed 2026-10-16)
- UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Program (Landscape Insect & Mite Guide), “Pissodes nemorensis (Northern Pine Weevil).” www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/landscape/publications-resources/insect-mite-guide/pissodes-nemorensis-also-sometimes-considered-pissodes-approximatus (accessed 2026-10-16)
- University of Georgia Integrated Pest Management Program, “Deodar Weevil (Eastern Pine Weevil), Pissodes nemorensis (2020).” ipm.uga.edu/2025/09/19/deodarweevil/ (accessed 2026-10-16)
- iNaturalist, “Pissodes nemorensis taxon page (order and family).” www.inaturalist.org/taxa/228180 (accessed 2026-10-06)