Cotton Cushion Scale - Icerya purchasi
Family Margarodidae
This page contains pictures and information about Cotton Cushion Scales that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia. The Cotton Cushion Scale are also known as Australian Mealybug and Fluted scale.
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- Matured female diameter 6mm and a nymph
- The picture shows a matured female cottony cushion scale. The white cottony substance is her egg sac. Males are rare and females can reproduce without mating. The species is native to Australia where Acacia is its natural host. It is accidentally introduced to California and became pest in citrus industry.
- Newly hatched nymphs are red with dark legs and antennae. Cotton Cushion Scales feed on twigs and leaves. They can be the serious pest for gardens and orchards. Ladybirds and lacewings are their natural enemy.
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- They are common on Acacia in Brisbane bushlands. They are usually alone or in small group on young stems and twigs. They seldom move although they have full functional legs. For the matured females, there is the white waxy secretions attached. Those white material will be used as egg-sac.
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- Cotton Cushion Scales are sap-sucker and produce honeydew. They are occasionally attended by ants.
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- Males are rare for this species. Females can self-fertilize in reproduction.
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- Young female
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- Nymph
- Newly hatched nymphs are red with dark legs and antennae.
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- Reference:
- 1. A field guide to insects in Australia - By Paul Zborowski and Ross Storey, Reed New Holland, 1996, p86.
- 2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus & Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p173.
- 3. Insects of Australia - CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p 459.
- Reference:
