Females usually have two or three immature instars and males usually have four.
Males normally have two pupalike instars called the prepupa and pupa that develop in a waxy enclosure produced initially by the second instar. The pupalike instars and the adult males do not feed and have only rudimentary mouthparts. The neotenic female lays eggs or first instars either in a cavity under her body or in a waxy cover that may of may not be attached to her body. Scales possess a diversity of reproductive systems including hermaphroditism, seven kinds of parthenogenesis, and six major types of sexual chromosome systems.