Occasionally males are produced from unfertilised eggs, but generally individuals are monoecious with a female-like nature but possessing an ovotestis (a part-testis, part-ovary organ) and sperm is transmitted ovarially from the female to her young. This hermaphroditic sexual self-sufficiency, where a single individual can populate new territory, has contributed to the invasive spread of the cottony-cushion scale insect away from its native Australia.
This phenomenon occasionally produces males from unfertilized eggs, but generally individuals exhibit female-like characteristics with an ovotestis (a dual reproductive organ) and transmit sperm to their offspring via the mother. This autonomous reproductive capability, where a single individual can establish new populations, has contributed significantly to the invasive spread of the cottony-cushion scale insect beyond its native Australia.