Calico Scale

Sticky, Dripping Maples

Late last week, I came across plantings of red maples (Acer rubrum) in a commercial landscape in southwest Ohio that were dripping sticky, sugary, honeydew; the calling card of phloem-sucking insects. A close look revealed the trees were festooned with Calico Scale (Eulecanium cerasorum) and European Fruit Lecanium (Parthenolecanium corni).
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Authors
Joe Boggs

Calico Scale Poo-Drip

Calico scale (Eulecanium cerasorum) is notorious for raining large quantities of sweet sticky honeydew onto the leaves and stems of its host tree as well as onto understory plants, sidewalks, parked cars, slow-moving gardeners, etc. Indeed, my glasses became speckled with tiny honeydew droplets while taking pictures for this Alert.
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Joe Boggs

Dripping Calico Scale

Calico scale (Eulecanium cerasorum) is notorious for raining large quantities of sweet sticky honeydew onto the leaves and stems of its host tree as well as onto understory plants, sidewalks, parked cars, hapless gardeners, etc. A dingy patina is added when the honeydew becomes colonized by black sooty molds.
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Joe Boggs

Calico Scale Crawls

Calico scale (Eulecanium cerasorum) eggs located beneath helmet-shaped females are just about finished hatching in southwest Ohio. As soon as the 1st instar nymphs (crawlers) appear, they make their way to the undersides of leaves where they settle along leaf veins and use their piercing-sucking mouthparts to tap into the phloem vessels.
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Authors
Joe Boggs

Calico Scale Poo Showers Commence

Calico scale (Eulecanium cerasorum) females spend the winter as small, crusty, flattened late instar nymphs (crawlers) stuck on plant stems. They look nothing like their mature form and may be overlooked or misidentified. They first make their true identity known when they start pumping out impressive quantities of honeydew.
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Joe Boggs

Calico Scale Egg Hatch

Calico scale eggs located beneath helmet-shaped females are beginning to hatch in southwest Ohio. This life cycle event happens quickly; the small number of 1st instar nymphs that I spotted yesterday will soon become a horde. Unlike armored scales, all nymphal stages of this soft scale are mobile, so nymphs can be called "crawlers" throughout their development.
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Authors
Joe Boggs

Calico Scale-Crawl

Calico scale eggs located beneath helmet-shaped females are hatching in southwest Ohio and the 1st instar nymphs (crawlers) are on the move. Unlike armored scales, all nymphal stages of this soft scale are mobile, so nymphs can be called "crawlers" throughout their development
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Authors
Joe Boggs

Calico Scale is Puffing-Up and Pumping Honeydew

Overwintered calico scale (Eulecanium cerasorum) females are now "puffing-up" and pumping out impressive quantities of clear, sugary honeydew in southwest Ohio. The appearance of the globular, helmet-shaped females coupled with complaints of trees oozing sticky goo makes this life-stage important for detecting new infestations. All other life-stages are much less obvious.
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Authors
Joe Boggs