Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
 

Register · Log In
Clickable Guide
Interactive image map to choose major taxa Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
Upcoming Events

National Moth Week was July 19-27, and the Summer 2025 gathering in Louisiana, July 19-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27
Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » Plant-parasitic Hemipterans (Sternorrhyncha) » Scales and Mealybugs (Coccoidea) » Armored Scale Insects (Diaspididae) » Melanaspis » Gloomy Scale (Melanaspis tenebricosa)
Photo#2446480
Melanaspis tenebricosa - female
Copyright © 2025 Miles Buddy

Melanaspis tenebricosa - Female
Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina, USA
April 10, 2025
On Acer rubrum. Known as Gloomy Scale or Red Maple Scale. ID confirmed by Dr. Benjamin Normark.

Images of this individual: tag all
Melanaspis tenebricosa - female Melanaspis tenebricosa - female
tag · login or register to post comments
Contributed by Miles Buddy on 14 April, 2025 - 12:49pm
Last updated 14 April, 2025 - 2:11pm

Moved
Moved from Armored Scale Insects.
… Ken Wolgemuth, 14 April, 2025 - 2:11pm login or register to post comments

Field ID notes from Kondo and Watson:
“Scale cover of adult female circular, strongly convex with a rough surface, 1.5–2.0 mm in diameter, dark grey to brown, with subcentral exuviae forming a prominence; position of exuviae marked with a white dot and concentric ring, but in rubbed specimens the protuberance is smooth and black. Ventral scale dark, strongly developed, especially near margins. Live adult female pink to purple, eggs pale pink. Scale cover of immature male similar to that of adult female but smaller and elongate oval with submarginal exuviae”

"M. tenebricosa mainly infests Acer, whereas M. indurata feeds on Pinus."

Excerpts From
Encyclopedia of Scale Insect Pests (2022)
Takumasa Kondo
… Miles Buddy, 14 April, 2025 - 12:57pm login or register to post comments

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.

Disclaimer: Dedicated naturalists volunteer their time and resources here to provide this service. We strive to provide accurate information, but we are mostly just amateurs attempting to make sense of a diverse natural world. If you need expert professional advice, contact your local extension office.

Contributors own the copyright to and are solely responsible for contributed content.
Click the contributor's name for licensing and usage information.
Everything else copyright © 2003-2025 Iowa State University, unless otherwise noted.

Bugguide is hosted by:

Plant Pathology, Entomology and Microbiology at Iowa State University logo

Printer Friendly Version 		Terms of Use
Privacy Statement
Site Map
Contact