Fir coneworm: what is the impact on the cone?

Fir coneworm: what is the impact on the cone?

• A. It kills the whole cone by tunnelling, leaving a lot of frass.
• B. It causes cone galling and ovule replacement.
• C. It sucks seeds on the cone while standing on cone.
• D. It feeds on cone scales but does not kill the cone.

Answer: (A)

Fir coneworm larvae enter cones and feed inside, tunneling through the cone tissue and destroying the seeds. This internal feeding often kills the entire cone, and the tunnels produce a noticeable amount of frass (the sawdust-like waste) that you can see within or around the cone. This pattern fits the typical damage from fir coneworm: a dead cone with a lot of frass from the tunneling activity. The other options describe damage patterns that don’t match how fir coneworms feed—cone galling, seed sucking on the exposed surface, or feeding only on cone scales without killing the cone.

Fir coneworm larvae enter cones and feed inside, tunneling through the cone tissue and destroying the seeds. This internal feeding often kills the entire cone, and the tunnels produce a noticeable amount of frass (the sawdust-like waste) that you can see within or around the cone. This pattern fits the typical damage from fir coneworm: a dead cone with a lot of frass from the tunneling activity. The other options describe damage patterns that don’t match how fir coneworms feed—cone galling, seed sucking on the exposed surface, or feeding only on cone scales without killing the cone.