Mytilaspis pomicorticis, Riley; Fifth Rep. State Entom., Missouri, p. 95.
Mytilaspis pomorum (Bouché), Signoret; loc. cit., 1870, p. 98.
N.Z. Trans., Vol. XI., 1878, p. 192.
The common apple-scale.
([Plate V.], Fig. 5.)
Female puparium usually brown,[M] sometimes white; elongated, mussel-shaped, convex, slightly curved, sometimes straight; length, about 1/10in.
[M] Dr. Signoret says, "brun noirâtre." Mr. Comstock calls it "ash-grey." In reality the colour varies somewhat with that of the bark of the tree.
Male puparium not known in New Zealand. In America it is stated[N] to be small, "straight or nearly so, and with the posterior part joined to the remainder of the scale by a thin portion which serves as a hinge."
[N] Comstock; Rep. of Entom., U.S. Dept. of Agric., 1880, p. 325.
Adult female greyish, yellowish, or white; elongated, segmented. Rudimentary antennæ present. At the edge of each segment two or three strong spines. Abdomen ending in two large lobes, with two others much smaller on each side; the median lobes are trifoliated. Between and beyond the lobes some spines. Five groups of spinnerets; numbers of orifices variable (see below); a few single spinnerets.