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Eremococcus turbinata
A lobulated gall probably involving terminal leaf buds. the galls were green and red and glossy. they were small, about 5 to 7mm wide. A dissected dry gall ( pic #4) showed thickened concentric layers of tissue. There was no sign of any life inside the gall.
Spotted on a prickly tea-tree (Leptospermum juniperinum)
This gall is formed by a scale insect of the genus Eremococcus. The rest of the small tea-tree was covered with dried seed pods of past flowers ( pic #6). Here is a similar gall - flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/31031835@N0... My thanks to l.cook for the ID and resource.
l.cook, thank you so much for looking at this spotting and the ID.The dissected gall looked very much like the one on Flickr.
Also, thank you for the web link for scale insects. Although my knowledge of these insects is basic, I am sure it will be interesting and useful.
If the gall is similar to the one you link to on Flickr, then it is the scale insect species Eremococcus turbinata. The link I provided in the ID box can be found at the following site. It is the most up to date, curated and refereed database of scale insects worldwide.
http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/scalenet/sc...
Spotted on Apr 9, 2013
Submitted on Apr 13, 2013
