My friend and colleague just released 2 pre-prints on #symbiosis in #scaleinsects
please check out their great work.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.23.619971v1

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.23.619753v1

Tiny wasp helps save one of world’s rarest birds from extinction https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/08/tiny-parasitic-wasp-rarest-species-bird-extinction-wilkins-bunting

"The Wilkins’ bunting lives on Nightingale Island (#TristanDaCunha group). It eats the fruit of the Phylica arborea, the island’s only native tree... invasive #ScaleInsects secrete honeydew, which encourages the growth of a sooty #mould that weakens and eventually kills P. arborea... a small parasitoid wasp prevents the insects from breeding... Scientists believe that the #wasps have helped save the #birds"

Tiny parasitic wasp helps save one of world’s rarest birds from extinction

Wasps released on Nightingale Island have protected Wilkins’ bunting by halting spread of mould-causing insects

The Guardian
How to Safely Treat Your Home and Plants of Irritating Pests - By Jessica Achillea

In this comprehensive article, we will dive into pests that commonly afflict houseplants, from tiny aphids to stubborn spider mites, providing you with organic, natural strategies and easy to understand tips to identify, prevent, and eradicate these nuisances. Get ready to reclaim your indoor oasis and have a pest-free environment in your home again! According

By Jessica Achillea - Live and Breathe Plants

I found the most amazing scale insects (superfamily Coccoidea) on a tree today!!! Big, close to pea-sized, and salmon-coloured, and tended by carpenter ants.

I pried up the edge of an already damaged one with a leaf-stem, and some babies came out!!

#bugstodon #insects #ScaleInsects #Hemiptera #Sternorrhyncha #Coccoidea #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #Camponotus #macro @bugid

I found a new kind of scale insect on pine needles! Anyone know what it might be? I think the tree is red pine, but not sure. Attached a pic of the needles for reference.

#Arthropoda #insects #ScaleInsects @bugid

One wonders if the scale insects get nervous when one of their neighbors suddenly collapses into a bloom of zombie fungus.

#Ophiocordyceps #Fungus #ScaleInsects #Death