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Project Noah Nature School
When I saw these little guys, I just had no idea what they were. I had never seen anything like these before. It turns out they are Scale insects of the family Ortheziidae or Ensign Scale. Females and nymphs have legs and antennae and secrete waxy plate-like exudates over their backs. Males are tiny, winged and have long waxy tails off the end of the abdomen. The last picture shows a kind of waxy nest full of barely visible first instar nymphs. See also this spotting of a different species from southern Mexico (Chiapas) https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/88....
On a woody bush over a creek, within the town of Xilitla, San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
https://bugtracks.wordpress.com/2013/10/... http://www.biodiversidadvirtual.org/inse... http://karz09.deviantart.com/art/Orthezi... http://www.sxmwildlife.com/2013/04/
Spotted on Apr 19, 2015
Submitted on Jan 13, 2016
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