Barnacle Scale at Eden, NSW
Identification history
| Ceroplastes sp. | 8 Dec 2019 | KimPullen | ||
| Unidentified | 18 Nov 2019 | HarveyPerkins |
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User's notes
About 5 mm across.
5 comments
JackieMiles
wrote:
19 Nov 2019
My garden pests book suggests this is Chinese wax scale, Ceroplastes sinensis. Doesn't say if it is native or introduced, but includes Melaleuca armillaris in the list of plants it attacks. It looks a bit like that is what yours is on.
HarveyPerkins
wrote:
19 Nov 2019
Yes - it was on a young sapling at the very edge of the large patch of Melaleuca ericifolia.
HarveyPerkins
wrote:
19 Nov 2019
It's amazing what you can find out when you've got a name! I found the info at these two links very interesting.
https://nzacfactsheets.landcareresearch.co.nz/factsheet/InterestingInsects/Chinese-wax-scale---Ceroplastes-sinensis.html and
http://idtools.org/id/scales/factsheet.php?name=6880
This scale is clearly very widespread and feeds on a very wide range of plants (from 50+ families), but neither of these links suggests what its natural pre-globalisation range might have been - but given the name, presumably eastern Asia.
https://nzacfactsheets.landcareresearch.co.nz/factsheet/InterestingInsects/Chinese-wax-scale---Ceroplastes-sinensis.html and
http://idtools.org/id/scales/factsheet.php?name=6880
This scale is clearly very widespread and feeds on a very wide range of plants (from 50+ families), but neither of these links suggests what its natural pre-globalisation range might have been - but given the name, presumably eastern Asia.
JackieMiles
wrote:
19 Nov 2019
Yep, sounds like it is not all fussy. I have a vague recollection of seeing it on our citrus occasionally. I think if you crush it, your fingers get stained red. I didn't like the statement about needing a specialist to identify it, although the photos of sinensis in the NZ reference looked a better match to yours than did those of destructor. Not sure what the other options are.
PaulWhitington
wrote:
2 Dec 2019
Wouldn't it be safer to leave this one at the genus level? - given the statement in the idtools.org document that it resembles another species and that the differences they describe between the two appear subtle.
Location information
- Coordinates 149.910783-37.043477
- Places Eden, NSW
Sighting information
- 2 Abundance
- 10 Nov 2019 01:32 PM Recorded on
- HarveyPerkins Recorded by
-
Collections
Insects Scale insects & mealybugs (Hemiptera, Coccoidea) HarveyPerkins South Coast NatureMapr
Species information
- Ceroplastes sp. Scientific name
- Barnacle Scale Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Cosmopolitan
- Minor weed or pest
- Machine learning
- External link More information
