Orthezia urticae
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Orthezia urticae is a species of scale insect in the family Ortheziidae. The species was first described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus under the original name Aphis urticae. Taxon was then moved to the genus Orthezia together with O. yashushii, O. ambrosicola, O. annae, O. argrimoniae, O. boliviana, O. sonorensis, O. lasiorum, and others.
Palearctic realm: northern Eurasia and northern Africa (except deserts) from Western Europe to Algeria, Morocco, China and Turkmenistan. In Russia it is present in: Kamchatka Krai, Primorsky Krai, Sakhalin Oblast, Kuril Islands and Tyumen Oblast.
Small lamellar insects. From above, the back of females is oval and covered with six white wax plates. The wax coating is rounded. The anatomy of males and larvae are not well known. The insects have 7-8 pairs of abdominal spiracles. Found on stems and leaves, they feed on the juices of various herbaceous plants, such as nettle, wormwood, bergenia, spirea and many others (wide polyphagy).
Gullan, P. J. & Kosztarab. (1997). "Adaptations in scale insects". Annual Review of Entomology. 42... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moscow | 🇷🇺 Russia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Nettle Ensign Scale sighting in Moscow on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 727th most-seen of the 1111 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Nettle Ensign Scale in Moscow on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Only Moscow, in our data
Moscow is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Nettle Ensign Scale sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Hemiptera
The closest relatives of the Nettle Ensign Scale that you can see in Moscow (order Hemiptera, True Bugs, Hoppers, Aphids, and allies) are European Firebug (about 20%), Forest Bug (about 10%) and Green Shield Bug (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Nettle Ensign Scale is recorded against all the insects logged in Moscow (9 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
