Eriococcus quercus (Comstock), the oak eriococcin, is a native species re- 
stricted to oak. It is reported from Alabama, the District of Columbia, Florida, 
Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Virginia, and several Western States. 
This scale is found in natural habitats and ornamental plantings. Adult females are 
reddish purple with a faint, yellow stripe down the center of the dorsum. The adult 
is covered with many crystalline rods that are noticeably longer along the body 
margin. The female produces a tough, pear-shaped ovisac which encloses the adult 
and the red eggs. 
The oak eriococcin has two generations per year in northern California.* Males 
are common, and a single adult female may lay as many as 150 eggs. This scale 
normally feeds on the new growth stems of oak hosts. The oak eriococcin occasion- 
ally causes economic damage to ornamental plantings of oak. The chalcidoid wasp 
parasite, Metaphycus eriococci (Timberlake), has been found on this scale species 
in California. 
Eriococcus gillettei Tinsley, the Gillette eriococcin, is native to the United 
States. It is reported from the District of Columbia, Florida, Maryland, Virginia, 
and several Western States, but it is undoubtedly present throughout the Southeast. 
This eriococcin is restricted to species of Juniperus, including California juniper, 
western juniper, and eastern redcedar. Adult females are yellow before forming an 
ovisac, but they eventually turn brownish purple. The body margin has a fringe of 
small crystalline rods. The adult female produces a tough, pear-shaped ovisac that 
encloses the adult female and the eggs. The first instars are brown when they first 
hatch and turn lemon-yellow after feeding. The second instars are yellow with a 
brownish mottling. 
The Gillette eriococcin has one generation per year in Maryland, and males are 
common.” Eggs are the overwintering stage; they hatch in April or May. Second 
instars appear in June, and adults become prevalent in late June and early July. Egg 
laying begins in the fall and continues into early winter. The eggs are yellow when 
first laid, but by February they turn brown. An individual female lays about 50 
eggs. Feeding takes place in protected areas on the foliage. This species occasion- 
ally builds up to economic proportions in ornamental plantings of juniper. 
Family Lecanodiaspididae 
Falsepit Scales 
This family is a small, homogeneous group that is most abundant in the Southern 
Hemisphere. Members of the family form a thick waxy test (or cover) that encloses 
the body of the adult female and serves as an ovisac. The shape, color, and pattern 
of the test is frequently characteristic of a particular species. There are normally 
three instars in the female and five in the male. The family contains five species in 
one genus, Lecanodiaspis, in the United States (6/5). 
Lecanodiaspis prosopidis Maskell, the common falsepit scale, is native to North 
America and occurs from Pennsylvania to Florida and west to Missouri in the 
Eastern United States. It is found in ornamental and natural habitats on many trees 
and shrubs including: sweetgum, holly, catalpa, boxwood, euonymus, mountain- 
laurel, rhododendron, blueberry, buckeye, walnut, yellow-poplar, magnolia, 
mulberry, ash, camellia, basswood, azalea, hackberry, persimmon, dogwood, and 
elm. The test of the adult female is nearly circular, convex, yellowish white or 
brownish red, and has a dorsomedial longitudinal ridge. Eggs are reddish brown. 
The male test is smaller, more slender, and is bright yellow. 
* Miller, D. R. [n.d.]. Unpublished data on file at USDA ARS Syst. Entomol. Lab., Beltsville, Md. 
’ See footnote 8. 
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