Today at CIA I talked with the third grade class about the various relationships between plants and animals. Obviously, a lot of insects feed on plants, and one of the things we discussed was how various caterpillars have specific host plants, often because the plants have developed toxins and the caterpillars have developed the ability to handle specific toxins.
One of the other things they found interesting were scale insects, which can be quite un-insect-like. While most scales are mobile when they are very young, many species spend most of their lives essentially in the same spot feeding on plant juices. Often they are covered in a waxy coating. After seeing images of scale insects on the projector, many of the students recognized them from plants on the school grounds, so we went out after the presentation to take a look at them.
