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Hemipteran eggs on Banksia

Family: Flatidae

Description:

This rough-textured egg mass was predominantly grey with white and black mottling. It was oval shaped, about 5 mm long and 3 mm tall. The egg mass was on the underside of a banksia leaf. The area on the leaf's upper surface corresponding to where the eggs were on the underside, appeared yellow (Pic #3) - a yellow ring with a less damaged centre. Two small ? mites were spotted beside the eggs.

Habitat:

Spotted on the underside of a juvenile leaf of a Coastal Banksia bush (Banksia integrifolia)

Notes:

My thanks to Stephen Thorpe for the ID and reference. This was incorrectly labelled as Scale from the one reference http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_... It did look very like Scale especially given the damage to the other side of the leaf. But, these appear to be Hemipteran eggs like that of the Flatid Siphanta acuta.

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6 Comments

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 10 years ago

It sure felt way too hard for eggs valgaavmiko. I'm resisting glasses too. :)

valgaavmiko
valgaavmiko 10 years ago

Now that you say it, I do see the eggs. I swear there are scale insects that look exactly like it. I need some new glasses ;)

Leuba Ridgway
Leuba Ridgway 10 years ago

Thank you Martin & valgaavmiko for your comments. My first impression of this was insect eggs - the grey tubular structures being cases with ? the black spots being openings on the individual egg cases. The roughness perhaps is because the eggs had hatched. I was going to contact Peter Chew (Brisbane Insects) to have a chat about it. I might do this...thanks again. In the meantime, I will label this as ? insect eggs.

MartinL
MartinL 10 years ago

Leuba, Stephen (BB) makes a good point that these look like eggs
http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_...
I would have totally agreed with you, having seen the same reference to a soft scale insect. Particularly so since the discoloration is a typical result of hemipterans feeding. Does BrisbaneInsects have an incorrect ID for this?

valgaavmiko
valgaavmiko 10 years ago

I went through an entire catalog of scale insects native to Australia and their host plants. I only found one that was on Banksia and it was on Banksia serrata. The species was Frenchia banksiae

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 10 years ago

Yet another weird creature to track down.

Leuba Ridgway
Spotted by
Leuba Ridgway

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Spotted on Nov 4, 2013
Submitted on Nov 6, 2013

Spotted for Mission

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Reference

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