OBSCURE SCALE ON THE PECAN AND ITS CONTROL O 



The covers of the males are nearly oval and slightly over half as 

 large as those of the females. They blend in color with that of the 

 surface on which they rest, and if viewed ventrally, show two white 

 longitudinal ridges, one along each side of the body of the developing 

 male (fig. 4, B). 



LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS 



The eggs are formed within the body of the female and can first be 

 seen about the first of April. As they become fully developed, they 

 are pushed out by the female a few at a time and partly fill the cavity 

 left beneath the scale cover by the retraction of the last body seg- 

 ment of the female. The first eggs are usually found extruded 

 between the middle of May and early June, and the first young, or 

 crawlers, can be found a few days later. Both eggs and crawlers are 

 present in large numbers throughout June and until the middle of 



Figure 4. — Ventral views of the obscure scale: A, Female scale covers showing the lip at the posterior end, 

 the molted skins in a and c, and the retracted shrunken body of an adult female in b, X 6; B, male covers 

 showing the white longitudinal ridges, X 6. 



July, after which they gradually decrease in numbers until by the 

 first of August but few remain. Scattered specimens may be found 

 until late in September or early in October. Data indicate that 

 each female may produce about 150 eggs and that, under favorable 

 conditions, slightly over 100 of these will develop into crawlers that 

 settle. 



The crawlers may settle beneath the cover of the parent or other 

 old scale, or in the open on some other portion of the host. The first 

 newly settled young are always found beneath old scale covers. Those 

 that go outside settle within a few hours and usually not far from the 

 parent scale. Data obtained in January and early February 1931, 

 representing nearly 30,000 specimens from three Shreveport orchards, 

 showed that 84.44 percent of the live specimens were females and 

 15.56 percent were males. Of the live females 62.63 percent were set- 

 tled under old scale covers and 37.37 percent were outside, while only 

 5.72 percent of the males were settled under old scale covers. These 



