Monday: 26 January 2009
I ran across several painted buckeyes, Aesculus sylvatica, that were covered with several each of these white blobs.
White blobs - oh no, not again. Since they’re blobs there’s not much to distinguish them, except they do seem to have a fairly regular form. They were about half a centimeter in size, and they pulled off easily.
A reddish underside, with those four nice striations. The litany of possibilities ran through my head: fungus? Party delicacy? Slime mold? Some slime molds exude a colored liquid when broken, let’s try it. The white stuff peeled off like paste. It didn’t take much to break open the reddish membrane of the ovoid inside, and ookie thick orange fluid burst out.
No slime molds that resemble this, and I don’t know what made me think of scale insects, but that’s what it is. Thanks to Bugguide, and in fact thanks to Carmen who occasionally supplies an ID here, these seem to be Wax Scales, Ceroplastes spp. In fact her photograph was taken last October just 20 miles or so from here, and it looks far more like mine than most of the others I’ve seen on websites. Probably not Barnacle Scale, which seems to have better defined shapes.
I wasn’t thinking insects, of course, because it’s winter, but apparently the insects overwinter as females (whatever that means!) and the orange ookie fluid were hundreds of undeveloped eggs. Which will develop and emerge as nymphs in April or so.
And yes, they are plant parasites. Sounds like the nymphs will do the bulk of the damage. So add painted buckeye to the list, whoever’s keeping it.
White blobs - oh no, not again. Since they’re blobs there’s not much to distinguish them, except they do seem to have a fairly regular form. They were about half a centimeter in size, and they pulled off easily.
A reddish underside, with those four nice striations. The litany of possibilities ran through my head: fungus? Party delicacy? Slime mold? Some slime molds exude a colored liquid when broken, let’s try it. The white stuff peeled off like paste. It didn’t take much to break open the reddish membrane of the ovoid inside, and ookie thick orange fluid burst out.
No slime molds that resemble this, and I don’t know what made me think of scale insects, but that’s what it is. Thanks to Bugguide, and in fact thanks to Carmen who occasionally supplies an ID here, these seem to be Wax Scales, Ceroplastes spp. In fact her photograph was taken last October just 20 miles or so from here, and it looks far more like mine than most of the others I’ve seen on websites. Probably not Barnacle Scale, which seems to have better defined shapes.
I wasn’t thinking insects, of course, because it’s winter, but apparently the insects overwinter as females (whatever that means!) and the orange ookie fluid were hundreds of undeveloped eggs. Which will develop and emerge as nymphs in April or so.
And yes, they are plant parasites. Sounds like the nymphs will do the bulk of the damage. So add painted buckeye to the list, whoever’s keeping it.
