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Aphenochiton pubens Henderson & Hodgson

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Translucent scale
[Aphenochiton pubens] - adult female.

[Aphenochiton pubens] - adult female.

This scale is very flat and thin in life, and very similar in general appearance to Aphenochiton subtilis, the filmy scale. These two species have even been found together on the same leaf on several Mida trees at Sharps Bush, Auckland. However, when slide-mounted, translucent scale can be easily distinguished from filmy scale because its legs have all their joints [in filmy scale the lower legs - tibia + tarsus - are fused together].

Biology: Has one generation per year and overwinters as the adult female. It is polyphagous [can live on quite a lot of different host plants].

Found on the undersides of leaves of:

Beilschmiedia tawa tawa
Cordyline banksii tī ngahere
Griselinia lucida puka / broadleaf
Hedycarya arborea porokaiwhiri / pigeonwood
Litsea calicaris mangeao
Mida salicifolia willow-leaved maire
Pittosporum tenuifolium kohuhu
Podocarpus totara tōtara