Kansas, Indiana, and Oklahoma. The lower and inner branches are 
usually attacked first. The foliage of heavily infested trees turns 
brown and drops. Entire trees are sometimes defoliated. The long- 
tailed mealybug, Pseudococcus adonidum (L.), a widely distributed 
species, feeds on many ornamental plants. Females are oval 2.4 
to 8 mm. long, grayish to light yellow, covered with a fine, pow- 
dery, waxlike whitish secretion, and bear two unusually long 
fringe-like filaments at the tail end. Oracella acuta (Lob.) feeds 
on the tips of loblolly pine terminals in Florida. Infestations have 
also been observed on shortleaf pine in Pennsylvania. 
The grape mealybug, Pseudococcus maritimus (Ehrh.), a 
widely distributed species, feeds on all species of Taxus in Ohio; 
also on grape, euonymus, and sycamore. The first winter is spent 
as a first-instar nymph mostly near the main stem in the interior 
of the plant. The nymph may be found in a mass of white waxy 
threads produced by the female or beneath webbing, bark scales, 
and other debris webbed together. During early spring the young 
nymphs migrate to the twigs to feed. Adults emerge by mid-June 
and the female deposits her eggs in masses of white fibrous mate- 
rial. When the eggs hatch, the young nymphs migrate to the 
foliage to feed. There are two generations a year. Damage to 
Taxus in nurseries may be serious enough to warrant control 
(562). 
The Comstock mealybug, Pseudococcus comstocki (Kuwana), an 
introduced species, occurs throughout most of the Eastern States 
and feeds on a wide variety of trees such as apple, peach, catalpa, 
boxwood, holly, horse chestnut, maple, mulberry, osage orange, 
Taxus, and poplar. Full-grown females are 2 to 5 mm. long, and 
covered with a white waxy material. Short, soft, spines pro- 
ject from the edges of the body forming a sort of fringe. The two 
posterior spines are three or four times longer than the others. 
The winter is spent in the egg stage under white cottony masses 
in bark crevices, under bark scales, and in the axils of twigs and 
leaves. There are several generations per year. Adults feed at 
pruning scars and in splits in the bark, causing the formation of 
knotlike galls. Important parasites include the hymenopterons, 
Pseudaphycus malinus Gahan, an introduced species from Japan, 
and Allotropa convexifrons Muesebck. The latter is often very 
effective in the Northeast. 
Heavy infestations of the striped mealybug, Merrisia virgata 
(Ckll.), have been observed on azalea in Maryland (351). It has 
also been recorded on azalea in Pennsylvania and Virginia and 
on magnolia in Alabama. The adult is covered with flossy threads, 
much longer than the body. Young nymphs feed on tender growth, 
such as flower buds; later, on all parts of the plant except the 
main stem and roots. 
FAMILY ASTEROLECANIIDAE 
PIT SCALES 
Pit scale insects are small and elongate-oval in shape. Their 
legs are either vestigial or lacking, their antennae are short and 
4- to 6-segmented, and their bodies are either covered by a tough 
waxy film or embedded in a waxy mass. The genus Asterolecanium 
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