About Ceroplastes rubens Maskell, 1893
Adult female Ceroplastes rubens have a hard, pink to pale red waxy covering. With this covering, they measure approximately 3 to 4 mm in length, with a globular, smooth shape that has a depression on the top and two lobes on each side. They have two types of stigmatic setae: bullet-like and hemispherical, and there are two pairs of setae between their antennae. The eggs of this species are brick red, and they hatch into crawlers, the first nymphal instar. First instar crawlers have three pairs of legs, two eye spots, and a pair of antennae. Later nymphal instars become covered in wax just like adult females, although their wax is white when it first forms. Red wax scales start their life cycle as eggs, which are kept in a cavity under the mother's body. After hatching, the eggs become mobile crawlers, which eventually settle onto a host plant, molt into the next nymphal instar, and start feeding.
