Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various aphidlike insects of the family Adelgidae that infest conifers and usually secrete a waxy or woolly covering.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An insect of the genus Adelges.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of various insects that feed and form galls on conifers

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From New Latin Adelgidae, family name, from Adelgēs, type genus : perhaps Greek adēlos, hidden (a-, not; see a– + dēlos, clear, visible; see dyeu- in Indo-European roots) + -gēs, of unknown origin.]

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Examples

  • You can see patches of dead hemlocks, probably killed by the wooly adelgid, which is infesting so many of our forests.

    The Killing Hour Gardner, Lisa 2003

  • For example, when hemlocks are completely infested with woolly adelgid, homeowners should get rid of the plant so they don't have to continually spray.

    Prime time to tame overgrown lawns 2010

  • The spruce-fir forests have been affected by the balsam wooly adelgid, a non-native insect that kills mature Fraser firs, and some forest growth declines are possibly linked to air pollutants.

    Ecoregions of North Carolina and South Carolina (EPA) 2009

  • I am watching for the insect, wooly adelgid, that has damaged so many of the native hemlocks in the forests.

    Bark « Fairegarden 2008

  • The hemlock woolly adelgid, an insect introduced from Asia in 1924, is killing eastern hemlocks throughout the eastern United States.

    Beyond Old Growth~ Chapter 5 2008

  • The balsam woolly adelgid, which sucks the sap from Fraser firs, has no natural predators here, either.

    Aliens Invade America! 2008

  • Just two pests — hemlock woolly adelgid and Asian long-horned beetle — could virtually destroy old-growth hemlock-hardwood forests in wilderness areas, creating an abundance of fuel and coarse woody debris.

    Beyond Old Growth~ Chapter 5 2008

  • The introduction of the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar), spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana), hemlock wooly adelgid (Adelges tsugae), balsam wooly-adelgid (A. piceae), as well as dogwood anthracnost fungi is altering the forest composition and habitat composition.

    Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests 2008

  • These high elevation communities are naturally subject to increased atmospheric moisture, cooler temperatures, and higher winds, but also now suffer from the effects of acid rain deposition, which tend to be exacerbated in high elevation communities, and from the depredations of an introduced homopteran insect, the wooly adelgid (Adelges spp.).

    Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests 2008

  • And hemlocks are being killed by an organism called woolly adelgid, not woody adelgid.

    Letters to the Magazine 2007

Comments

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  • An aphid-like insect that feeds on the bark and needles of conifers.

    August 22, 2007