SCALE INSECTS
They look more like some kind of limpets ...or a manifestation of some plant disease ...
... but they are actually insects ... that are lost practically all the characteristics by which we recognize an insect ...
... even if you take a look at the underside ... there is nothing insect - like there ... no legs, no segmentation ... they don't move in this adult, reproductive stage ... and in this form ...
... because they come also in another version ... this minuscule ones can move and establish new colonies ... than become sedentary and continue to reproduce in another place ...
... just like the aphids, they feed on the sap of the plant by piercing the leaves and twigs ...
... and just like in the case of aphids, the ants milk them for honey dew, the sugary liquid they excrete when stimulated by the ant's antennae.
Here is another species ... introduced in Europe from the far east ...
... I photographed all these scale insects on the tangerine tree in front of my house ... so, as always in posts, the photographs are my work - THE END.
Great article! Thanks for sharing.
Awesome photos, and good idea with a tangerine tree!!!!
Thanks :) There is always some action in the garden, especially when seen through the macro lens. I took a close up look at these scales for the first time in the last spring of 2020, and mostly because of the lockdown, because I couldn't go searching for insects in more wild places - so I ended up learning more about my own yard and backyard.
very interesting , i didn't know that it exist ! well done!