10. Diaspis Boisduvalii, Signoret; Ann. de la Soc. Entom. de France, 1868, p. 433.
N.Z. Trans., Vol. XI., 1878, p. 200; Vol. XVII., 1884, p. 23.
([Plate IV.], Fig. 5.)
Female puparium oval, nearly circular, flattish; colour, yellowish-grey; diameter, about 1/12in.
Male puparium elongated, white, with a strong median keel, and with the edges raised so as to appear like two other keels; length, about 1/20in. The male puparia frequently occur massed in great numbers, and covered with white hairs and fluff.
Adult female rather elongated, oval, or somewhat pear-shaped; the body corrugated, the cephalic portion smooth. At each side, on a level with the rostrum, or a little above it, is a protruding lobe, which is characteristic. Colour, light-yellow. Abdomen ending in two lobes, not prominent, and with a depression between them; beyond the lobes are many serrations, with small lobelike projections and spiny hairs. Five groups of spinnerets: uppermost group with five to eight orifices[L]; the two upper side groups with twenty to twenty-five; lower side groups, fifteen to twenty. A few scattered single spinnerets.
[L] Mr. Comstock (Entom. Rep., Cornell Univ., 1883, p. 87) gives eight to fifteen orifices for the uppermost group.
Adult male very small, about 1/40in. in length; colour, reddish-yellow; antennæ of ten joints, all with hairs except the two first; femora and tibiæ slender, tarsi thick at the base, and tapering to the claw; digitules, fine hairs. The first and second pair of legs appear somewhat widely separated, owing to the length of the coxæ.
Habitat—On several hothouse plants, Christchurch and Wellington; and on wattle in gardens, Wellington.
A European insect. The curious projections at the side, near the head, of the female, and the arrangement of the male puparia above mentioned, sufficiently distinguish this species.