What's this bloody thing?

[Wardr08e]

What kind of slug do you think it is? I can't find a single slug species in NZ that looks even remotely like this thing. To my ignorant mind it looks more like the images of scales and barnacles I've found online.

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[The Aspie Toker]

It looks similar to this...

[Bud Lightyear]

Its a scale of some sorts mate, not sure which one though...




Regards BL

[Wardr08e]

Debatable Aspie. The main issue I have with saying it's a slug and the others are aphids is that the aphids weren't there. I had take the leaf off the plant, into my house and laid it on some white paper. There was nothing else on the leaf. When I removed the "slug" suddenly there were these tiny little things exploding out from where it had been kinda like from a spiders nest thing. They were either in or under the "slug". If that's normal slug and aphid behaviour then by all means tell me I'm an idiot....

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[The Aspie Toker]

The text that went with that photo said... "This large native slug, thought to be a new species of the genus Pseudaneitea, was collected from Craigieburn Forest Park in North Canterbury."

I would put my money on it being a slug. If someone asked you for a photo of a human, it won't be identical to another human.

Maybe you had mites or spiders as well as the slug. Maybe the slug was feasting on them at the time.


Added: After seeing Bud's example, it looks more like scales than the slug example.

[The Aspie Toker]

Its a scale of some sorts mate, not sure which one though...




Regards BL

It looks a lot closer to it than my example.
I've not heard of scales before - except the ones you find in the bathroom.

[Bud Lightyear]

It looks a lot closer to it than my example.
I've not heard of scales before - except the ones you find in the bathroom.

Its what it is I get them on my grape vines

Regards BL

[The Aspie Toker]

Its what it is I get them on my grape vines

Regards BL

In all my years of growing, I've never heard of them. I may have seen them and thought "wtf are these?" but I have noting in my memory banks of such an incident.

[Viz]

Soft Scales (Coccidae)

Grapevine scale, Parthenolecanium persicae, is a well known and widely distributed pest of grapevines in Australia. A recent study of soft scales on grapevines in Australia (Rakimov 2008, in preparation) has shown that five other soft scales are present on grapevines. The most common of these are frosted scale, Parthenolecanium near pruinosum, and soft brown scale, Coccus hesperidum, which were often in mixed infestations with grapevine scale.

Better eyes than mine BudLightyear. If you are down NZ way then it is possible they came across from Australia.

Table 1. Characters that can help to visually distinguish mature soft scales found on grapevines in Australia.

Scale species

Mature females

Eggs and/or crawlers

Grapevine scale

Oval shape, about 7mm long,
dark brown scale.

Yellow eggs laid in mass beneath the body of the adult scale, crawlers yellow.

Frosted scale

Oval shape, 6-8mm long, strongly convex. Scale dark brown, sculptured and covered with white powdery wax

White eggs, laid in mass beneath the scale body. Crawlers white.

Soft brown scale

Oval shape, 3-4 mm long, yellow-brown mottled with brown spots.

Crawlers are light brown, born alive.

Black scale

Oval shape, 3-5 mm long, convex, scale black to dark brown. Ridges on top surface of scale forming a ?H? shape, most obvious in early stage adults.

Pink eggs, laid in mass beneath the scale body. Crawlers light brown.

Nigra scale

Elongate oval in shape, 3-4 mm long. Smooth, shiny dark brown to black scale.

Eggs laid in mass beneath the scale, crawlers light brown.

Long soft scale

Elongate oval shape, 4-6 mm long, yellow to grayish brown, with visible eye spots.

Crawlers born alive.

[Wardr08e]

That's the bitch right there. Now I just gotta look up what kills them dead.

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