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Powdery pine needle aphid

Eulachnus rileyi[4]

The powdery pine needle aphid is a slender, waxy gray aphid that sucks sap from pine needles; it often builds up in winter, when its predators are less active, and heavy infestations coat trees with honeydew and black sooty mold.[1][2]

Group
Insect
Order
Hemiptera
Family
Aphididae
US records
19 states
Sources
4 cited
Updated
2026-10-19
Powdery pine needle aphid lying along a pine needle, a slender gray aphid dusted with white wax, with long legs
Powdery pine needle aphid lying along a pine needle, a slender gray aphid dusted with white wax, with long legs. Photo: Jesse Rorabaugh, public domain (CC0), via iNaturalist
On this page
  1. Identification
  2. Where it lives
  3. Biology
  4. Damage and signs
  5. Health risk
  6. Control
  7. Related profiles
  8. Common questions
  9. Sources

How to identify it

  • Adults are tiny, about 0.07 to 0.1 inch, slender and spindle-shaped, olive gray under a powdery gray wax, with relatively long, slender legs and antennae.[1][2]
  • They feed only on the needles, and some adults have dark wings.[1]

Where it lives

NC State lists eastern white, loblolly, pitch, red, Scots, shortleaf, slash and Virginia pines as hosts, and the Pacific Northwest handbook lists it as a pest of pines there too.[1][2]

US map: public records from 19 states since 1990 (GBIF).

Biology and life cycle

Some wingless females lay eggs that overwinter on pine, but other stages also survive mild winters, and populations often peak in winter when lady beetles and syrphid fly larvae are less active.[1]

Females can reproduce without mating; in a study in Zimbabwe each adult produced three to five young a day, 15 to 35 in all.[1][3]

Winged adults fly to other pines, and in warm weather parasitic wasps, lady beetles, syrphid fly larvae and lacewings usually bring numbers down quickly.[1]

Damage and signs

  • The aphids feed only on needles and excrete sticky honeydew; sooty mold growing on it can blacken heavily infested pines, along with the grass and objects underneath.[1]
  • Feeding can cause early needle drop.[2]

Health risk

It feeds only on pine sap; NC State and the PNW Handbook mention no risk to people.[1][2]

Control

Biological control

Natural enemies usually control it once the weather warms, so give them a chance first.[1]

Pesticides

If they don't, horticultural oil works and helps loosen sooty mold, but it can strip the bluish wax bloom from white and Scots pines and leave them looking yellow; other insecticides labeled for aphids on home ornamentals also work.[1]

Common questions

Why are aphids so bad on my pine in winter?
Powdery pine needle aphids keep reproducing in mild winter weather while the lady beetles and fly larvae that eat them are mostly inactive.[1]
What is the black coating on my pine and the grass under it?
Probably sooty mold growing on honeydew from aphids such as the powdery pine needle aphid.[1]

Sources

  1. NC State Extension, “Powdery Pine Needle Aphid (PDIC Factsheet).” content.ces.ncsu.edu/powdery-pine-needle-aphid (accessed 2026-10-19)
  2. Oregon State University, Washington State University and University of Idaho Extension, “Pine (Pinus): Powdery pine needle aphid (Pacific Northwest Insect Management Handbook).” pnwhandbooks.org/node/7009 (accessed 2026-10-19)
  3. South African Forestry Journal (NISC abstract), “Biology and Population Dynamics of the Pine Needle Aphid, Eulachnus rileyi (Williams) in Zimbabwe (Y. Katerere, South African Forestry Journal 129, 1984).” www.nisc.co.za/products/abstracts/13798/biology-and-population-dynamics-of-the-pine-needle-aphid-eulachnus-rileyi-williams-in-zimbabwe (accessed 2026-10-19)
  4. iNaturalist, “Eulachnus rileyi taxon page (order and family).” www.inaturalist.org/taxa/532779 (accessed 2026-10-06)

Updated 2026-10-19. Built from sourced records. Spot an error? Tell us.