White pine aphid (Cinara strobi)

From Bugwoodwiki

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 1979. A guide to common insects and diseases of forest trees in the northeastern United States. Northeast. Area State and Private Forestry, Forest Insect and Disease Management., Broomall, PA. p. 123, illus.(USDA Forest Service, Northeast Area State and Private Forestry Publication. NA-FR-4)

The white pine aphid feeds only on eastern white pine, damaging twigs and branches of large trees and sometimes killing small trees. Serious damage occurs only in white pine plantations and on shade trees. The first evidence of infestation is usually a blackening of twigs and branches caused by a sooty mold. The mold grows on the large amounts of honeydew produced by the feeding aphids.

The life cycle of this aphid is complicated, and the following description is somewhat simplified. Winged females, which are about ¼ inch long, deposit their five or six yellow eggs in lines on needled in the fall. Shortly after the eggs are laid, they turn jet black. The eggs hatch in May and June, and the young aphids move to the twigs and smaller branches to feed, usually in colonies. Several wingless generations are produced throughout the summer, and winged females are again produced in the fall.