#soft bugs

What appears to be a scale insect from the Icerya genus.

Icerya

This strange pink mass looks like a gall, or a strange fungal growth. However it is, in-fact, an insect.

Scale bugs (family Coccidae) are very primitive insects that come in many different shapes and sizes, having small soft bodies with three pairs of legs, a large protective shell, and (depending on the species) the male will have wings, and resemble a fly.

Ceroplastes rubens, “Pink/Red Wax Scale”, is pictured above. In this species, the adults (I’m unsure if the males are winged, and need more information on that) stay under their waxy shell, while their external organs, like legs and wings, slowly reduce until they no longer function.

This species is NOT good for your garden, and will cause black sooty mold to appear.