Habitats of New Zealand Soft Scale Insects
Rosa C. Henderson
Email 
August 2001
Soft scales belong to family COCCIDAE ( Hemiptera: Coccoidea)
Where might soft scales be found, and on what plants? Here they are grouped in ten plant habitat types: seven native and three exotic
I. Seven habitat types of native soft scales - all on native plants |
|||
| Some native species are "host specific", meaning they can live only on particular plants, for example, the button scales [Lecanochiton species] are only found on pōhutukawa and rātā. Other native soft scales can be found on several different plants, but usually in just one habitat. |  |
Near seashore on pōhutukawa and rātā [Metrosideros species] | |
 |
Shrubland often consisting of Coprosma or Hebe species |  |
Kānuka, both kānuka [Kunzea ericoides] and mānuka [Leptospermum scoparium] |
 |
Llowland forest mixed broadleaf forest types, other than podocarps and kānuka. |  |
Podocarps mostly tōtara and rimu. |
 |
Beech Nothofagus species in beech forest |  |
Mountain on shrubs and herbs that can sometimes be covered by snow in winter |
II. Three habitat types of exotic soft scales - mostly on non-native plants |
|||
| Some of the exotic species have very wide host plant ranges (they are polyphagous). In areas disturbed by human activity, e.g., bush margins, they can even be found on some native plants, and two of them, soft brown scale and hemispherical scale, have spread a little bit further into native forest. |  |
Gardens on shrubs, trees and ferns | |
 |
Orchards citrus, feijoa and stonefruits |  |
Seashore for the ice plant scale |
Follow any habitat link, for example the link to lowland forest, and view thumbnail photos of the insects, then click on a thumbnail photo to find out all its known host plants and some of its biology. See also pages about the life cycle & terms, and parasitoids and fungal pathogens that can attack soft scale insects.
Photos by Rosa Henderson unless acknowledged otherwise. More information [online] in Fauna of New Zealand 41 Coccidae, written by Chris Hodgson & Rosa Henderson, 2000, published by Manaaki Whenua Press.
Acknowledgements: thanks to Steve Carr for generating the first web pages, Philip Talain for help with web structure, and Trevor Crosby for converting this to a bilingual site.
Suggested citation: Henderson, R.C. 2001 Habitats of New Zealand soft scale insects. 61 pages. http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biosystematics/invertebrates/ [date accessed 8/02/2012 ].
Disclaimer