Ladybeetle and scale insect gall

Description:

Scale insects build a shell or test, where they pass all their lives sucking the host plant's sap. Although very thick and solid, the shell has some openings through which the insect expels its urine. Like aphids and treehoppers, scale insects can't metabolize the sugar of the sap, so its urine is very sweet. Ants are known to "tend" these bugs, but other insects also enjoy the sweet "juice" of scale insects.