Page "Ecology of the Sierra Nevada" Paragraph 53

The Lodgepole Needle Miner ( Coleotechnites milleri ) is an insect, endemic to the upper Tuolumne and Merced River watersheds of Yosemite National Park and one small headwaters drainage of the San Joaquin River ( Sierra National Forest ).

It lives mostly within the needles of Lodgepole Pine for two years, emerging as a little gray moth for a few weeks in July of odd-numbered years.

This keeps any predators from becoming effective control agents and allows populations to escalate rapidly.

While regular prehistoric outbreaks of Lodgepole Needle Miners have been confirmed through dendrochronology, historic records document outbreaks from 1903 to 1921, 1933 to 1941, and 1947 to 1963.