Symptoms	Main type of symptoms	Symptoms of Dendrolimus sp. easy to detect on the commodity are: – edges of needles fed by gregarious young larvae (1st to 3rd instar) and yellowing/reddening of damaged needles, – partial/total feeding of needles by aged and mature solitary larvae (4th instar onwards), – silky cocoons (70–100 mm) containing the pupae attached to the branches of damaged plants.
	Presence of asymptomatic plants	Infested plants are asymptomatic only when carrying eggs laid on needles and young larvae are newly hatched.
	Confusion with other pests	The identification of different species of Dendrolimus may be very uncertain due to the remarkable similarity among the species (especially between D. sibiricus and D. superans and within the cluster D. punctatus, D. spectabilis, D. tabulaeformis) and the possibility of hybridisation. For a reliable identification analysis by experts, eventually also with DNA barcoding support, is needed.