An Account of the Insects Noxious to Agriculture and Plants in New Zealand / The Scale Insects (Coccididae)

by William Miles Maskell

49. Lecanium oleæ, Bernard.

Chermes oleæ, Bernard, Mem. d'Hist. Nat. Acad., 1872, 108.

L. oleæ, Signoret, loc. cit., 1873, p. 440.

Maskell, N.Z. Trans., Vol. XVII., 1884, p. 28.

The "Black Scale."

([Plate XI.], Fig. 5.)

Adult female naked; semi-globular; dark-brown, sometimes almost black. Skin marked by one longitudinal and two transverse keels, not very conspicuous. Diameter, about ¹/₁₅in. Antennæ of eight joints. Feet normal. Anal ring with six hairs.

Young insect flat, elongated, reddish-brown. The keels are more conspicuous than in the adult. Skin marked with numerous oval perforations.

Male unknown.

Habitat in New Zealand—On camellia, Cassinia leptophylla (tauhine), and other plants, Wellington; Hawke's Bay; on various native trees, Whangarei. In Europe on olive. In America (where it is called the "black scale") on oranges and very many other plants.