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University of Tennessee Biological Field Station
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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » Plant-parasitic Hemipterans (Sternorrhyncha) » Scales and Mealybugs (Coccoidea)
Photo#171803
mite nymph or...
Copyright © 2008 Charley Eiseman

mite nymph or...
Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont, USA
Size: 0.2 mm
I just found this poking its head out of a little cocoon (which I collected in VT a few months ago and had in a sealed container) that I was looking at under my microscope. Somehow I was able to get a (sort of) reasonable photo (even though it was still walking around) by putting the lens of my Nikon Coolpix against one of the eyepieces. This mite/whatever is very flat, looking at it side view.

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mite nymph or... cocoon scale egg sac
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Contributed by Charley Eiseman on 2 March, 2008 - 8:19pm
Last updated 25 March, 2008 - 4:08pm

scale insect
This appears to be a larval scale insect (or "crawler") that has come out of a wax-coated egg mass.
… Andy Hamilton, 3 March, 2008 - 7:56am login or register to post comments

 
wow
It did strike me as having a Hemiptera/Homoptera type mouthpart, but I (obviously) don't know much about mites (other than that at least some have a 6-legged nymph stage), and thought some might have similar mouthparts.
The surface of the 'cocoon' under magnification had a tightly coiled appearance that I interpreted as silk, but I suppose the coils could be wax filaments--I'll attach a photo in a moment.
Looks a lot like this Pulvinaria egg sac.
I never would have thought of scale insects, since this was all by itself on the stem and there was no sign of a female's scale covering or anything. Guess I need to do some more reading about this group!
… Charley Eiseman, 3 March, 2008 - 9:22am login or register to post comments

 
not scalelike
Check out cottony-cushion scale for an example of a scale that isn't a hard-shelled type.
… Andy Hamilton, 5 March, 2008 - 7:39am login or register to post comments

 
but
In my case the remains of the female, hard-shelled or otherwise, were nowhere to be found.
So far Pulvinaria scales are the only ones I've read about, or seen images of, with egg sacs resembling this one--the cottony-cushion scale has those distinctive longitudinal ridges--but I recognize that there are so many types of scale insects out there that I'll never know for sure.
… Charley Eiseman, 5 March, 2008 - 10:33am login or register to post comments

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