SCALE INSECTS (" COCCIDiE ") OF AUSTRALIA. 41 



Genus LVIII. Callipappus, Guerin. 



Revieu de Zoologique, 1849, p. 129. 



Signoret, Annal. Soc. Entotn. France (5), vol. v, p. 347, 1875. 



These mealy bugs are peculiar to Australia ; six species have been des- 

 cribed, one of which, however, is only a final dried form of another species. 

 The females are elongate, somewhat flattened creatures, irregularly corru- 

 gated, and wrinkled upon the dorsal surface, the head and thorax somewhat 

 angular on the sides, with long thickened antennae formed of short, well- 

 defined joints tapering to the extremities; the legs long, with thickened 

 thighs, and the tarsal claw sharp and curved inwards, so that they can cling 

 well to the hard surface of the bark. The under-surface forming two cavities 

 under the abdomen to cover the eggs. 



The males with transparent tinted wings, with thickened costal margin, 

 short, thickset bodies, with a tuft of filaments like spun glass, often much 

 longer than the whole of the insect. 



The males can often be taken flying about in the sunlight in search of 

 the female, the latter resting on a stump or branch a short distance above 

 the ground. From their bright red tints and beautiful tails they are popu- 

 larly called " Bird of Paradise flies." 



The adult female, after she has deposited her eggs, often remains fixed to 

 the bark of the tree trunk, on which she is resting, with the under-surface of 

 the body attached to the bark (as if gummed), and the sharp tarsal claws 

 fixed in the bark. The body swollen out hard and rigid, quite unlike the 

 earlier normal form. 



Callipappus australis, Maskell. 



Coelostoma australis. Pro. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., p. 280, 1890, fig. 



Trans. New Zealand Institute, vol. xxv, p. 242, 1892; vol. xxvii, p. 69, 1894. 



The adult female coccid is of a uniform dull blue-black tint, covered with 

 scattered white flakes, and short cottony secretion at the tip of the abdomen. 

 Elongate, rounded at the extremities, slightly convex on the dorsal surface, 

 distinctly segmented. Length up to one inch. Antennae eleven-jointed, 

 equal in length, lightly clothed with hairs. 



The male is a very beautiful little dull red creature with bluish wings, 

 purple to red at the base, with the nervures red, with the tip of the abdomen 

 furnished with a tuft of beautiful filaments like spun glass, forming a fan- 

 shaped tail, so that it is a remarkable looking little creature flying round in 

 the sun in search of the resting female. 



This coccid is common in New South Wales and Queensland. 



79. Callipappus australis. Cat. Coccidae, p. 31. 



