An orange yellow fly with long legs and antennae sits on a gray background. It has dark stripes on the legs, iridescent green eyes, and four large dark spots on the wings, laid out in a diamond shape.

An orange yellow fly with long legs and antennae sits on a scale encrusted twig background. It has dark stripes on the legs, iridescent green eyes, and four large dark spots on the wings, laid out in a diamond shape.

An orange yellow fly with long legs and antennae sits on a scale encrusted twig background. It has dark stripes on the legs, iridescent green eyes, and four large dark spots on the wings, laid out in a diamond shape.

An orange yellow maggot sits on a scale encrusted twig background, among numerous scale insects.

Don't let this delicate little muppet fly fool you - larvae are voracious predators of armored scale insects! A member of the "gall" midge family, it has abandoned plant feeding for a meat-based diet (like many others).

#Cecidomyiidae: #Dentifibula viburni
Host = white prunicola scale; #Diaspididae

A gif showing a small round section of the rough and hairy golden brown hairs on the underside of a Southern magnolia leaf being flipped up to reveal a bright yellow, featureless scale insect underneath.

A photo showing a small round section of the rough and hairy golden brown hairs on the underside of a Southern magnolia leaf flipped up to reveal a bright yellow, featureless scale insect underneath.

A single armored scale that is purplish in color but otherwise looks like a featureless reverse teardrop shape is revealed from under the bark of a thin azalea twig on a white background. Other lumps on the twog under the hairy bark allude to more scales hiding.

Peekaboo! Did you know some armored #scales develop under the surface (inc. bark) of plants? It's the ultimate form of camouflage for these sessile insects.

1st animation/pic show a sp. under the trichomes/epidermis of a Southern magnolia leaf. 2nd is under the bark of an azalea twig. #Diaspididae