We use cookies to make your experience better. To comply with the new e-Privacy directive, we need to ask for your consent to set the cookies. Learn more.
Resources
Latin Name: Unaspis euonymi
Common Name: Euonymus Scale
Latin Family Name: Diaspididae
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:Native to Japan and China, but now well established throughout the U.S. and into Canada wherever suitable host plants are used in landscaping.
Biology:
A scale capable of infesting several kinds of ornamental shrubs, including pachysandra and bittersweet, but most often a serious pest on Euonymus. Heavy infestations can cause severe stress and dieback to the plant, or lead to the death of the plant. Mature females overwinter, deposit eggs beneath their wax shell in the early spring, and crawlers emerge in mid spring. This first generation completes development by early summer, and a second generation is common that is active until the early fall. In mild climates there may be 3 generations per year.
Identification:A very small armored scale with a dark gray, elongate
Latin Name: Gossyparia spuria
Common Name: European Elm Scale
Latin Family Name: Eriococcidae
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:Native to Europe but introduced to North America, where it is found throughout the continent where elm trees are grown.
Biology:
There is one generation per year, with immature stages overwintering. These develop to the mature female in early spring, which begins depositing eggs under her wax shell. Crawlers appear in late spring and migrate to the undersides of leaves, feeding there throughout the summer. In late summer they migrate back to the stems to molt to the next instar, becoming sessile and settling in near the forks of twigs. Heavy infestations can cause dieback of terminal twigs on elm trees, mimicking the damage of Dutch Elm Disease. Other than this slight dying back of terminal growth the primary concern with this scale is the honeydew production and sooty mold.
Latin Name: Parthenolecanium corni
Common Name: European Fruit Lecanium
Latin Family Name: Coccidae
Other Names: Brown apricot scale
Pest Details
Origin:Despite its common name this is a native insect in North America, and is found in many fruit growing states.
Biology:
This scale attacks a variety of deciduous trees and vines, and occasionally may be found on some evergreen shrubs. It is a pest on stone fruits such as peach and apricot as well as on grapes, and the honeydew drippings and resultant sooty mold can disfigure the fruit and make it unmarketable. Normally a single generation per year in cooler climates, and 1 or 2 generations in warmer regions. Females begin laying eggs in the spring with the first instar crawlers emerging from mid-spring into early summer. The mobile crawlers then move to fresh shoots and leaves and feed there. Once they molt to the second instar they return to stems of
Latin Name: Parthenolecanium pruinosum
Common Name: Frosted Scale
Latin Family Name: Coccidae
Other Names: Wax scale
Pest Details
Origin:Native to the mountains of Mexico, but now present in several states in the U.S., including California and Pennsylvania, and north into western Canada. It also is found in Australia.
Biology:
The preferred host of this scale is walnut, and it is the most important soft scale pest of walnut in California, but it also attacks a great many other trees and shrubs, including stone fruits, pistachio, apple and pear, locust, grape, rose, elm, birch, laurel, sycamore, raspberry, and others. It overwinters as a nymph on small twigs, resuming its growth and change to the adult stage in the spring. While feeding it produces large amounts of dripping honeydew and the resultant sooty mold. The female produces large numbers of eggs in late spring and dies afterward. The mobile crawlers then
Latin Name: Hemiberlesia rapax
Common Name: Greedy Scale
Latin Family Name: Diaspididae
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:Believed to be native to Europe, although it was originally described from specimens found in North America. It is now found in all temperate and tropical regions of the world.
Biology:
The Greedy Scale infests a wide variety of ornamental and food bearing plants. In California it is a serious pest on olive trees, where it feeds on stems, leaves, and developing olives. It is also found on acacia, apple, citrus, palms, Ficus, guava, peach, rose, and many other plants. The crawler stage does not feed, but wanders to soft foliage and within a few hours or a few days becomes sessile and begins creating a wax shell. As they molt the previous skin (called the exuvium) is pressed into the growing wax shell, forming a characteristic dot at the center. There may be several generations each
Latin Name: Margarodes Spp.
Common Name: Ground Pearls
Latin Family Name: Margarodidae
Other Names: Ground pearls, Earth pearls, Pearl scale
Pest Details
Origin:Some species likely native to North America, but others found in Australia. In the U.S. they have been found in the southwest states and the southeast states.
Biology:
These are very odd species of scales, living completely underground and feeding on the roots of plants. The insect secretes wax that forms a shell that completely encloses the insect except for its mouthparts. Movement and spread occur when the adult female emerges from her shell to move to a different location, and then deposit up to 100 eggs into a wax chamber she creates for them. No males are known, reproduction is by parthenogenesis, and several egg-laying episodes may occur each year by a female. Within a few days the eggs hatch and the mobile crawlers emerge from their chamber and
Latin Name: Saisettia coffeae
Common Name: Hemispherical Scale
Latin Family Name: Coccidae
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:Originated in South America, but now a common scale insect throughout the United States in greenhouses and interiorscape plantings.
Biology:
This scale attacks a wide range of plants, including bamboo, camellia, citrus, crepe myrtle, ferns, gardenia, lily, orchids, and others. Feeding of large numbers of the scales reduces plant vigor, may cause loss of foliage, and reduces marketability of commercial plants. Males are unknown, and females reproduce parthenogenetically. Up to 1000 eggs are deposited beneath the wax shell of the female, which then dies. Development to the adult stage takes from 40 to over 100 days, and within warm greenhouses all stages will be present and active simultaneously.
Identification:A fairly small scale that produces less wax than other
Latin Name: Toumeyella pinicola
Common Name: Irregular Pine Scale
Latin Family Name: Coccidae
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:Uncertain, but likely native to North America.
Biology:
Immature females overwinter, maturing in the spring and depositing up to 500 eggs beneath their wax covering. The mobile crawlers are an amber brown color, and move to softer new growth to feed, returning to the stems to molt and begin to secrete their wax covering as a sessile nymph stage. There is a single generation each year, with development continuing until cold weather in the fall. They are prolific producers of honeydew and the associated sooty mold, and when present in Christmas tree farms can reduce the value of the trees. Many species of pines are susceptible.
Identification:Immature scales produce a thin, translucent wax covering, which thickens and darkens as the insect matures. Initially the
Latin Name: Carulaspis juniperi
Common Name: Juniper scale
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:Native to Europe but now found throughout the world where host plants are available.
Biology:
There is a single generation each year with the female overwintering on the branches and needles. Eggs are then laid in the spring and the active crawlers will move around on the plant for only a day or less before beginning to feed and develop their wax covers. This is a potentially serious pest of junipers and many other kinds of conifers, causing browning of the needles from the effect of the feeding and resulting in an overall loss of aesthetics of the plant.
Identification:The wax scale is diagnostic, and typical of armored scales it is flattened and small, pinkish to orange, and found on the needles and foliage. The actual female insect under the wax may be yellow in color and circular in shape. Males resemble tiny
Latin Name: Eulecanium kunoense
Common Name: Kuno Scale
Latin Family Name: Coccidae
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:Native to the Orient, but introduced into the western U.S. on imported plants.
Biology:
Immature scales overwinter as flattened scales that are not particularly noticeable. In early spring the females grow rapidly and ultimately may be nearly 3/16 inch in diameter as a completely round, ball-like wax cover. They are dark brown to mahogany in color. Honeydew production is extremely heavy when infestations are high, causing problems with layers of sticky material on surfaces below the trees and large numbers of ants feeding on the sweet material. In mid-spring eggs hatch and the orange mobile crawlers emerge, move to the undersides of leaves, and feed there through the summer. In the fall these nymphs then move back to stems, insert their mouthparts there, and become the sessile stage