Tiny white and black scales clinging to a stem
On a green stem in Lombok, a cluster of tiny insects clung to the plant like small specks of wool. From a distance they barely registered as anything alive. Up close, their bodies showed a pattern of white and black spots, and the adults held their wings spread in a neat, symmetrical pose. They were completely still, attached to the stem as if glued there.
These are Insignorthezia insignis, the greenhouse orthezia, a member of the family Ortheziidae in the order Hemiptera. Ortheziids are a small family of scale insects, and like most scale insects they feed by piercing plant tissue and sipping sap. The females look like tiny winged specks, often dusted with white waxy secretion, and they can be found on a huge range of host plants, which is why this species has spread around the world in greenhouses and gardens.
The name insignis means remarkable or distinguished in Latin, an odd compliment for an insect that is easy to overlook. But watch them for a while and you notice their tidy, deliberate way of moving, and the way the young cluster around the mother like a small flock, a family unit in miniature.
Scale insects are rarely anyone’s favourite animal, but they are quietly fascinating: plant vampires that many gardeners battle and few ever really look at. On that stem in Lombok, this little colony was just going about its business, and I was glad to have finally given it a proper look.
