[2] The adult N. lecontei has membranous wings and a broad waist and is between 5 and 8.5 mm (0.20 and 0.33 in) long, with the males being somewhat smaller than the females.

Its range extends from southeastern Canada westwards to the Great Plains and southwards to Texas and Florida.

Trees less than 5 m (16 ft) tall are frequently attacked, and plantations of pine established in the 1930s saw the insect reach pest proportions.

The young larvae feed on the sides of the pine needle, leaving an uneaten central section which withers and dies, remaining on the tree giving a distinctive straw-like effect.

Here they overwinter as prepupae, pupating in the spring and biting their way out of one end of the cocoon to emerge as adults.