Scale insect

Scale Insect

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Scale insect

The scale insects are small insect

Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s of the order Hemiptera

Hemiptera

Hemiptera is an order of insects, comprising around 80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others. They range in size from 1 mm to around 15 cm, and share a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts ....
, generally classified as the superfamily Coccoidea. There are about 8,000 species of scale insects.

Most scale insects are parasites of plant

Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
s, feeding on sap

Sap

Sap may refer to:* Plant sap, the fluid transported in xylem cells or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant* Baton #Blackjack, another word for a blackjack, an easily concealed Club ....
drawn directly from the plant's vascular system. A few species feed on fungal mats and fungi, e.g., some species in the genus Newsteadia in the family Ortheziidae. Scale insects vary dramatically in their appearance from very small organisms (1-2 mm) that occur under wax covers (some look like oyster shells), to shiny pearl-like objects (about 5 mm), to creatures covered with mealy wax.

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Encyclopedia

The scale insects are small insect

Insect

Hemiptera

Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
s, feeding on sap

Sap

Mealybug

Mealybug is the common name of insects in Pseudococcidae, a family of unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm climates. They are considered pest s as they feed on plant juices of greenhouse plants, house plants and subtropical trees....
s) and permanently attached to the plant they have parasitized. They secrete a wax

Wax

Wax has traditionally referred to a substance that is secreted by bees and used by them in constructing their honeycombs.It is an imprecisely defined term generally understood to be a substance with properties similar to beeswax, namely...
y coating for defense; this coating causes them to resemble reptilian scales or fish scales

Scale (zoology)

In most biology nomenclature, a scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of an animal's skin to provide protection. In lepidopteran species, scales are plates on the surface of the insect wing, and provide coloration....
, hence the name.

Scale insects feed on a wide variety of plant

Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
s, and many scale species are considered pest

Pest (animal)

A pest is an organism which has characteristics that are regarded by humans as injurious or unwanted. This is most often because it causes damage to agriculture through feeding on crops or parasitising livestock, such as codling moth on apples, or boll weevil on cotton....
s. Some types are economically valuable, such as the cochineal

Cochineal

'Cochineal' is a scale insect insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the crimson-colored dye, carmine, is derived. There are other species in the genus Dactylopius which can be used to produce cochineal extract, but they are extremely difficult to distinguish from D....
, Polish cochineal

Polish cochineal

Polish cochineal , also known as Polish carmine scales, is a scale insect formerly used to produce a crimson dye of the same name, colloquially known as Saint John's blood....
and lac scales. Scale insects' waxy covering makes them quite resistant to pesticide

Pesticide

A pesticide is a substance or mixture of substances used to kill a pest .A pesticide may be a chemical substance, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest ....
s, which are only effective against the first-instar

Instar

An instar is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each ecdysis , until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form....
nymph

Nymph

In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of mythological entities in human form. They were typically associated with a particular location or landform....
crawler stage. However, scales are often controlled with horticultural oil

Horticultural oil

Horticultural oils are lightweight oils, either petroleum or vegetable based. They are used in both horticulture and agriculture, where they are applied as a dilute spray on plant surfaces to control insects and mites....
s, which suffocate

Suffocation

Suffocation is the process of being Asphyxia.It may also refer to:* Suffocation , a brutal death metal band.* Suffocate, a song by the post-grunge band Finger Eleven from their 2000 album The Greyest of Blue Skies....
them, or through biological control. Soap

SOAP

SOAP, originally defined as Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of Web Services in computer networks....
y water is also reported to be effective against infestations on houseplant

Houseplant

A houseplant is a plant that is grown indoors in places such as House and offices. Houseplants are commonly grown for decorative purposes and health reasons such as indoor air purification....
s.

Female scale insects, unusually for Hemiptera, retain the immature external morphology at sexual maturity (neoteny

Neoteny

Neoteny , also called juvenilization, is the retention, by adults in a species, of traits previously seen only in juveniles , and is a subject studied in the field of developmental biology....
). Adult males have wings but never feed and die within a day or two. Male scale insects are unusual in possessing only one pair of wings, thus making them resemble true flies (Diptera), though they lack the halteres (rudimentary hind wings) seen in flies, and have tail filaments, which do not occur in flies. The specifics of their reproductive systems vary considerably within the group, including hermaphroditism and at least seven forms of parthenogenesis

Parthenogenesis

Parthenogenesis is an asexual form of reproduction found in females where growth and development of embryos or seeds occurs without fertilization by a male....
.

Major families

Superfamily Coccoidea (scale insect

Scale insect

The scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, generally classified as the superfamily Coccoidea. There are about 8,000 species of scale insects....
s)

cottony cushion scales
Icerya purchasi

Icerya purchasi is a scale insect that feeds on several species of woody plants, most notably on Citrus and Pittosporum. Originally identified in 1878 as a New Zealand located consumer of Acacia paradoxa, it is now found worldwide where citrus crops are grown....
, giant coccids, and ground pearls (Margarodidae
Margarodidae

Margarodidae is a family of scale insects within superfamily Coccoidea. Members of the family include cottony cushion scales , giant coccids , Polish cochineal , and ground pearls ....
)
armored scale (Diaspididae)
cochineal
Cochineal

'Cochineal' is a scale insect insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the crimson-colored dye, carmine, is derived. There are other species in the genus Dactylopius which can be used to produce cochineal extract, but they are extremely difficult to distinguish from D....
(Dactylopiidae)
lac scales (Kerriidae, Lacciferidae)
soft scales (Coccidae)
pit scales (Asterolecaniidae)
mealybug
Mealybug

Mealybug is the common name of insects in Pseudococcidae, a family of unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm climates. They are considered pest s as they feed on plant juices of greenhouse plants, house plants and subtropical trees....
s (Pseudococcidae)
felted scales (Eriococcidae)

External links

with photos
Pests & Diseases of Roses

on the UF

University of Florida

The University of Florida is a Public university land-grant university, sea grant colleges, Space grant colleges major research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida, in the United States....
/ IFAS

Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

The University of Florida?s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information accessible....
Featured Creatures Web site