Habitat—On camellias, Christchurch; on euonymus, weeping willow, &c., Wellington.
Very common in gardens about Wellington: sometimes does much damage to euonymus shrubs and hedges.
4. Aspidiotus Carpodeti, Maskell.
N.Z. Trans., Vol. XVII., 1884, p. 21.
Female puparium usually light-brown, but varying a little with the colour of the bark of the tree; convex; circular; the pellicles in the centre; some specimens are slightly elongated. Average diameter, 1/16in.
Male puparium narrow, with parallel sides; not carinated; dirty-white or brownish colour; length, about 1/16in.
Adult female of the normal peg-top shape, the abdomen not so much overlapped as usual. Abdomen ending in two median somewhat prominent lobes, with two others much smaller not in close proximity; edge of the body jagged, with curvilinear incisions, amongst which and between the lobes are a number of serrated pointed hairs, as in A. nerii. Four groups of spinnerets: lower pair with four to six orifices; upper, with six to ten. These groups seem surrounded by a narrow line as if enclosed in a chamber: the same appearance is presented (according to a figure of Mr. Comstock's) in A. nerii. There are many single spinnerets.
Adult male of normal form, with antennæ of ten joints, of which the seventh, eighth, and ninth are the longest. The haltere has a somewhat long peduncle. The abdominal spike is rather long, and springs from a large tubercle.
Habitat—On Carpodetus serratus and Vitex littoralis (puriri), Wellington. The puparia are so like in colour to the bark that it is difficult to detect them.
This insect is evidently closely allied to A. nerii, but differs in the abdominal lobes of the female and in the antennæ of the male; its male puparium is also much longer, and that of the female more convex, than in that species.