I did not realize how badly infested my bushes are.

specious_reasons · Post by **specious_reasons** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 10:07 pm

I have a row of bushes around the side of the house - crabapple if I'm not mistaken. They have these white fuzzy spots all over them - looks like this:

Well, the branch is all crawly with these tiny white bugs - aphids I guess. Thinking these white things are nests or egg sacs or something, I pull a couple off the branch, only to discover....

This white lump is an aphid itself. A squishy, dark red aphid with a crusty white coating.... I'm assuming the little white guys are immature versions of the same species.

To make matters worse, here's a mite I found on the same branch:

Now I'm all itchy.

Ichthyophthirius · Post by **Ichthyophthirius** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 9:47 am

Hi,

These are scale insects (related to aphids) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale_insect . The white material is wax produced by them.

Because they are flat, they make great slide preparations: http://www.padil.gov.au/pests-and-disea ... 1645/36377

specious_reasons · Post by **specious_reasons** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 5:40 pm

Ichthyophthirius wrote:Hi,

These are scale insects (related to aphids) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale_insect . The white material is wax produced by them.

Because they are flat, they make great slide preparations: http://www.padil.gov.au/pests-and-disea ... 1645/36377

Thanks. I suspect you're correct. I have no lack of specimens right now, so I may get a few more and see how well they work out - The adults don't seem to be very flat, but they're also currently well fed and well covered.