Pulvinaria hydrangeae Steinweden
Pulvinaria hydrangeae. adult female, with her long white eggsac and the young crawlers hatching out of it.
Cottony hydrangea scale
Steinweden named this species hydrangeae after the plant hydrangea in 1946.
Status in New Zealand: an exotic (adventive) species, first recorded here in 1977. Not important economically. Not found on native plants.
Biology: one generation per year, overwintering as 3rd-instar [pre-adult] females. Hydrangea scale is probably parthenogenetic and there are no males in New Zealand.
Found on the stems and leaves of:
Hydrangea sp., Prunus avium [sweet cherry], Prunus serrulata [flowering cherry].