Hemiptera is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from 1 mm (0.04 in) to around 15 cm (6 in), and share a common arrangement of piercing-sucking mouthparts. The name "true bugs" is often limited to the suborder Heteroptera.
Scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient grouping than the superfamily Coccoidea due to taxonomic uncertainties. Adult females typically have soft bodies and no limbs, and are concealed underneath domed scales, extruding quantities of wax for protection. Some species are hermaphroditic, with a combined ovotestis instead of separate ovaries and testes. Males, in the species where they occur, have legs and sometimes wings, and resemble small flies. Scale insects are herbivores, piercing plant tissues with their mouthparts and remaining in one place, feeding on sap. The excess fluid they imbibe is secreted as honeydew on which sooty mold tends to grow. The insects often have a mutualistic relationship with ants, which feed on the honeydew and protect them from predators. There are about 8,000 described species.
Casuarina, also known as she-oak, Australian pine and native pine, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Casuarinaceae, and is native to Australia, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, islands of the western Pacific Ocean, and eastern Africa.
The Sternorrhyncha suborder of the Hemiptera contains the aphids, whiteflies, and scale insects, groups which were traditionally included in the now-obsolete order "Homoptera". "Sternorrhyncha" refers to the rearward position of the mouthparts relative to the head.
The bush coconut, or bloodwood apple, is an Australian bush tucker food. It is an insect gall with both plant and animal components: an adult female scale insect and her offspring live in a gall induced on a bloodwood eucalypt tree (Corymbia). Bush coconuts can vary from golf ball to tennis ball size. They have a hard and lumpy outer layer. The inner layer is a white flesh that contains the female insect and her offspring. There are three known species of Cystococcus responsible for forming the bush coconut: Cystococcus pomiformis, Cystococcus echiniformis and Cystococcus campanidorsalis. C. pomiformis is the most common species. The bush coconut is found in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales.
The Margarodidae or ground pearls are a family of scale insects within the superfamily Coccoidea. Members of the family include the Polish cochineal and Armenian cochineal and the original ground pearl genus, Margarodes. Beginning in 1880, a number of distinct subfamilies were recognized, with the giant coccids being the first. Although Maskell proposed a new family, many continued to regard the monophlebids as a mere subfamily for many years, and the Margarodidae classification continued to be polyphyletic through the 20th Century. Since then, taking the advice of Koteja several subfamilies and tribes have been elevated into their own families such as Matsucoccidae and Xylococcidae. The pared-down family of Margarodidae is monophyletic.
Paratachardina pseudolobata, the lobate lac scale, is a polyphagous and pestiferous lac scale insect, which damages trees and woody shrubs in Cuba, Florida, the Bahamas and the Australian territory of Christmas Island. It was mistakenly identified as Paratachardina lobata (Chamberlin), an insect native to India and Sri Lanka, but was in 2007 recognized and named as a distinct species based on material from Florida; its native distribution is as yet unknown. The new lac insect was described based on all stages of the female, during the revision of the genus Paratachardina, wherein all its known species were redescribed.
Eriococcidae is a family of scale insects in the order Hemiptera. They are commonly known as felt scales or eriococcids. As of 2023, there are 109 genera and 681 species. Each species is usually specific to a different plant host, or closely related group of hosts.
Halimococcidae is a family of scale insects in the order Hemiptera. Members of the family are commonly known as pupillarial palm scales or halimococcids. Most species are found on the leaves of palm trees where they suck sap, but some species occur on Pandanus. The family was named by Brown and McKenzie in 1962 and includes five known genera and twenty one species.
Phenacoleachiidae is a family of scale insects commonly known as the phenacoleachiids. They are found only in the South Island of New Zealand, and on certain offshore islands. There are two species in a single genus.
Phylloxeridae is a small family of plant-parasitic hemipterans closely related to aphids with only 75 described species. This group comprises two subfamilies and 11 genera with one that is fossil. The genus type is Phylloxera. The Phylloxeridae species are usually called phylloxerans or phylloxerids.
Cylindrococcus is a genus of scale insects that induces galls on plants of the genus Allocasuarina. There are two described species of Cylindrococcus, both of which occur only in Australia. The galls of adult females look somewhat similar to the cone-like "fruit" of the host plant and might be mistaken for such.
Callococcus is a genus of Australian scale insect that feeds on species of Leptospermum, Hypocalymma, Kunzea and some other members of the tribes Chamelaucieae and Leptospermeae in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. Callococcus leptospermi induces stem-swelling galls on some species of Leptospermum, and it is considered to be a potential biological control agent of Leptospermum laevigatum in South Africa. The other described species of Callococcus do not induce galls.
Ryoichi Takahashi was a Japanese entomologist. His research focused on hemiptera, including aphids, whiteflies, and scale insects. He published more than 420 articles.
Gallacoccus is a genus of the scale insects commonly known as beesoniids. They typically cause galls on their plant hosts. Gallacoccus anthonyae is the type species. Female members of the genus Gallacoccus have only three instars, in contrast to the other beesoniid genera where the females have four.
Marmyan is an extinct genus of scale insect, containing a single species, Marmyan barbarae and unplaced in any coccid family. The genus is solely known from the Albian – Cenomanian Burmese amber deposits.
Trabutina mannipara, or mana scale, is a species of mealybug found in the Middle East and southern Europe. It is the most well-known of the five species in the genus Trabutina, of which it is the type species, due to its association with the biblical story of manna. T. mannipara feeds parasitically on tamarisk trees, and excretes a sweet substance which is sometimes collected for human consumption. Obsolete terms for it include Coccus manniparus and Trabutina palestina. This species can be found in the Sinai and Iraq.
Trabutina is a genus of "blue-green" mealybugs, containing five species: T. crassispinosa, T. elastica, T. mannipara, T. serpentina, and T. tenax. This genus of scale insects feeds solely on plants of the genus Tamarix. Its type species is T. mannipara.
Lachnodius is a genus of eriococcid scales, or felt scale insects, in the family Eriococcidae. There are at least 10 described species in Lachnodius, found in Australia.
Lynette Gai Cook is an Australian botanist and entomologist. She earned a PhD from the ANU in 2001 with a thesis entitled The biology, evolution and systematics of the Gall-inducing scale insect Apiomorpha Rübsaamen
