Armenian cochineal

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Armenian cochineal
Porphyrophora hamelii, female.jpg
Porphyrophora hamelii (female)
Porphyrophora hamelii, male.jpg
Porphyrophora hamelii (male)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Sternorrhyncha
Family: Margarodidae
Genus: Porphyrophora
Species:
P. hamelii
Binomial name
Porphyrophora hamelii
Brandt, 1833
Synonyms   [1]

The Armenian cochineal (Porphyrophora hamelii), also known as the Ararat cochineal or Ararat scale, is a scale insect indigenous to the Ararat plain and Aras (Araks) River valley in the Armenian Highlands, including East of Turkey. It was formerly used to produce an eponymous crimson carmine dyestuff known in Armenia as vordan karmir (Armenian : որդան կարմիր , literally "worm's red") and historically in Persia as kirmiz. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] The species is critically endangered within Armenia. [7]

Contents

The Armenian cochineal scale insect, Porphyrophora hamelii, is in a different taxonomic family from the cochineal found in the Americas. Both insects produce red dyestuffs that are also commonly called cochineal. [8]

History and art

Porphyrophora hamelii is one of the ancient natural sources of red dye in the Middle East and Europe, along with the insect dyes kermes (from Kermes vermilio and related species), lac (from Kerria lacca and related species), and carmine from other Porphyrophora species such as the Polish cochineal (Porphyrophora polonica), and the plant dye madder (from Rubia tinctorum and related species). [3] [4] [6] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [ excessive citations ] It is possible that Armenian cochineal dye was in use as early as 714 BC, when the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II was recorded as seizing red textiles as spoils of war from the kingdoms of Urartu (the geographic predecessor of Armenia) and Kilhu. [3] [4] [14] [15] [16] [ excessive citations ] The Roman-era physician and pharmacologist Dioscorides, writing in the 1st century AD, noted that the best kokkos baphike, the kermes shrub and its "grain" (kermes insect) that some ancient writers likely confused with Porphyrophora hamelii, came from Galatia and Armenia. [3] [4] [17] In the Early Middle Ages the Armenian historians Ghazar Parpetsi and Movses Khorenatsi wrote specifically of a worm-produced dyestuff from the Ararat region. [4] [16]

During the Middle Ages the Armenian cochineal dyestuff vordan karmir, also known in Persia as kirmiz, was widely celebrated in the Near East. [4] [5] [6] [16] Kirmiz is not to be confused with dyer's kermes, which was derived from another insect. [6] The Armenian cities Artashat and Dvin were early centers of the production of kirmiz: during the 8th through 10th centuries Arab and Persian historians even referred to Artashat as "the town of kirmiz". [4] [16] The Arabs and Persians regarded kirmiz as one of the most valuable commodities exported from Armenia. [6] The Armenians themselves used vordan karmir to produce dyes for textiles (including oriental rugs) and pigments for illuminated manuscripts and church frescos. [4] [16] [18] [19] Chemical analyses have identified the dye of Porphyrophora hamelii in Coptic textiles of the 3rd through 10th centuries, a cashmere cloth used in a kaftan from Sassanid Persia in the 6th or 7th century, silk liturgical gloves from 15th-century France, Ottoman fabrics such as velvets and lampas of the 15th through 17th centuries, and a 16th-century velvet cap of maintenance that belonged to Henry VIII of England. [6] [20] [21]

At the time of the Renaissance in Europe, Porphyrophora insects were so valuable that in Constantinople during the 1430s, one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of Porphyrophora hamelii insects was worth more than 5 grams (0.18 ounces) of gold. [6] [22] [23] The crimson Porphyrophora-based dyes were especially prized in Europe for dyeing silk, as the scarlet dye kermes was more plentiful, cheaper, and more effective for dyeing woolen textiles, which are heavier than silk and require more dye. [6] It has been estimated that on the order of a half million dried Porphyrophora hamelii insects were required to dye one kilogram (2.2 lb) of silk crimson during this period. [6] [24] On the comparison between Armenian and Polish cochineal, the author of a 15th-century treatise on silks in Florence wrote that "two pounds of the large [Armenian cochineal insects] will dye as much [silk] as one pound of small [Polish cochineal insects]; it is true that it gives a more noble and brighter colour than the small, but it gives less dye." [6] [25]

Around the end of the 16th century the Old World Porphyrophora dyes were supplanted by dyes of the Dactylopius coccus cochineal species from the Americas, which could be harvested several times per year and yielded a much more concentrated dye. [15]

The carmine dyestuff of Porphyrophora hamelii owes its red color almost entirely to carminic acid, making it difficult to distinguish chemically from the dyestuff of cochineal from the Americas. [6] [9] [10] [15] [26] [ excessive citations ] The dyestuff of Porphyrophora polonica can be distinguished by its small admixture of kermesic acid, which is the major constituent of kermes from Kermes vermilio.[ citation needed ]

In 1833 the German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt suggested the scientific name Porphyrophora hamelii after the Russian physician, traveler, and historian of German descent Iosif Khristianovich Gamel (Josef Hamel) (ru), who visited the Ararat plain in the early 1830s and wrote a report about the "cochineal" insects living there. [27] [28]

Biology

Porphyrophora hamelii cysts around the root of Aeluropus littoralis Porphyrophora hamelii, cysts.jpg
Porphyrophora hamelii cysts around the root of Aeluropus littoralis

Porphyrophora hamelii is a sexually dimorphic species. [30] [31] [32] The adult female, from which carmine is extracted, is oval-shaped, soft-bodied, crimson in color, and has large forelegs for digging. The females can be quite large for a Porphyrophora species: up to 10–12 mm (0.39–0.47 in) long and 7 mm (0.28 in) wide. [30] [32] It has been noted that one troy pound (360 grams) of cochineal insects requires 18,000–23,000 specimens of Porphyrophora hamelii, but 100,000–130,000 specimens of the sister species Porphyrophora polonica (or 20,000–25,000 specimens of Dactylopius coccus). [33] [34] The adult male Porphyrophora hamelii is a winged insect.

The life cycle of Porphyrophora hamelii is mostly subterranean. [7] [30] [31] Newly hatched nymphs emerge from the ground in the springtime and crawl until they find the roots of certain grassy plants that grow in saline soil, such as Aeluropus littoralis (Armenian : որդանխոտ (genus Aeluropus), [18] [35] literally "worm's grass") and the common reed Phragmites australis. [7] [30] The nymphs continue to feed on these roots throughout the spring and summer, forming protective pearl-like cysts in the process. From mid-September to mid-October adults emerge from the ground between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. to mate. [6] [7] [35] [36] The adult insects, lacking mouthparts, do not feed. [31] Adult males live for only a few days, but adult females can live longer, burrowing into the ground to lay their eggs. [31]

Habitat and conservation

The historic habitat of Porphyrophora hamelii. Vordan Karmir State Reservation is in red and the historic dye-producing cities Artashat and Dvin are in purple. Vordan Karmir Habitat.jpg
The historic habitat of Porphyrophora hamelii. Vordan Karmir State Reservation is in red and the historic dye-producing cities Artashat and Dvin are in purple.

The red dye-producing insects of the Ararat plain were once plentiful: a 19th-century French traveler wrote that shepherds' flocks, when led to drink from the Araxes (Araks) River, would appear bloody from the insects. [4] In the mid-20th century the extent of occurrence in Armenia was 100 km2 (39 sq mi) with a recorded distribution that included the Ararat and Armavir provinces in Armenia as well as the Turkish, Iranian, and Russian Caucasus, but by the 1990s the extent of occurrence in Armenia had shrunk to about 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi), mostly in Armavir Province. [7] [30] [37] During the Soviet period, desalination of the Armenian salt marshes to create "economic and agricultural regions", and the creation of lakes for fisheries, "severely restricted the [habitable] area for the insects and [endangered their] existence." [35]

Vordan Karmir State Reservation, Armenia Vordan Karmir reserve.jpg
Vordan Karmir State Reservation, Armenia

The population in Armenia resides almost entirely in the Vordan Karmir State Reservation, a salt meadow habitat of 198.33 ha (490.1 acres) northwest of Arazap village and 21.52 ha (53.2 acres) in the north of Jrarat village established in 1987 near the Araks River border with Turkey, plus a site southeast of Ararat village and a few patches of several hectares elsewhere. [7] [38] [39] There have been no recent scientific reports on populations of Porphyrophora hamelii outside the surroundings of Mount Ararat. [6]

Porphyrophora hamelii is considered critically endangered within Armenia by meeting the following conditions: an area of occupancy of less than 10 km2 (3.9 sq mi), plus severely fragmented occupancy or known to exist at only a single location, plus continued decline (observed, inferred, or projected) in the area of occurrence, area of occupancy, and area, extent, and/or quality of habitat; and an extent of occurrence of less than 100 km2 (39 sq mi) with the aforementioned conditions of continued decline. [7] [40]

Threats to the Porphyrophora hamelii population in Armenia include the development of saline lands, agricultural improvements, uncontrolled livestock grazing, and possibly climate change. [7] Natural foes of the species include mold mites, lady beetles, harvester ants, and erratic ants. [1] [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, Kermes vermilio, but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red colors that are between red and rose. It is the national color of Nepal.

Carmine – also called cochineal, cochineal extract, crimson lake, or carmine lake – is a pigment of a bright-red color obtained from the aluminium complex derived from carminic acid. Specific code names for the pigment include natural red 4, C.I. 75470, or E120. Carmine is also a general term for a particularly deep-red color.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scale insect</span> Superfamily of insects

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carminic acid</span> Chemical compound

Carminic acid (C22H20O13) is a red glucosidal hydroxyanthrapurin that occurs naturally in some scale insects, such as the cochineal, Armenian cochineal, and Polish cochineal. The insects produce the acid as a deterrent to predators. An aluminum salt of carminic acid is the coloring agent in carmine, a pigment. Natives of Peru had been producing cochineal dyes for textiles since at least 700 CE. Synonyms are C.I. 75470 and C.I. Natural Red 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alchermes</span> Type of Italian liqueur

Alchermes is a type of Italian liqueur prepared by infusing neutral spirits with sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and vanilla, and other herbs and flavoring agents. Its most striking characteristic is its scarlet color, obtained by the addition of Kermes, a small scale insect from which the drink derives its name. Several proprietary variants are commercially available, where the coloring agent is a coal tar-derived dye such as E124 or E126, with alcoholic contents ranging from 21 to 32%. Its chief use is in coloring pastry, although a quick dessert is sometimes made by adding it to custard cream and sugar. In the Italian pudding zuppa inglese, sponge cake or ladyfingers soaked in this liqueur are a major ingredient.

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<i>Kermes</i> (insect) Genus of true bugs

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Kermes vermilio is a species of Kermes that feeds on trees. Some of the species are used by humans to make vermilion; though a mineral form used in many cultures and discovered at a similar time is cinnabar. For details of further chemical alternatives see vermilion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margarodidae</span> Family of true bugs

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polish cochineal</span> Species of true bug

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". The larvae of P. polonica are sessile parasites living on the roots of various herbs – especially those of the perennial knawel – growing on the sandy soils of Central Europe and other parts of Eurasia. Before the development of aniline, alizarin, and other synthetic dyes, the insect was of great economic importance, although its use was in decline after the introduction of Mexican cochineal to Europe in the 16th century. Historically earlier was used Armenian cochineal scale insect, Porphyrophora hamelii, which is in a same taxonomic family Porphyrophora of the Polish cochineal and in different taxonomic family from cochineal found in the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cochineal</span> Species of insect producing the crimson dye carmine

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenian carpet</span> Weaving technique used for carpet, rugs and floor covers, etc.

The term Armenian carpet designates, but is not limited to, tufted rugs or knotted carpets woven in Armenia or by Armenians from pre-Christian times to the present. It also includes a number of flat woven textiles. The term covers a large variety of types and sub-varieties. Due to their intrinsic fragility, almost nothing survives—neither carpets nor fragments—from antiquity until the late medieval period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural dye</span> Dye extracted from plant or animal sources

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glossary of dyeing terms</span>

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<i>Margarodes</i> Genus of true bugs

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human interactions with insects</span>

Human interactions with insects include both a wide variety of uses, whether practical such as for food, textiles, and dyestuffs, or symbolic, as in art, music, and literature, and negative interactions including damage to crops and extensive efforts to control insect pests.

<i>Dactylopius</i> Genus of insects

Dactylopius is a genus of insect in the superfamily Coccoidea, the scale insects. It is the only genus in the family Dactylopiidae. These insects are known commonly as cochineals, a name that also specifically refers to the best-known species, the cochineal. The cochineal is an insect of economic and historical importance as a main source of the red dye carmine. It has reportedly been used for this purpose in the Americas since the 10th century. Genus Dactylopius is also important because several species have been used as agents of biological pest control, and because several are known as invasive species.

Karmir in Armenian means red. It may also refer to:

The color red is the longest wavelength of light discernable to the human eye, with a range of between 620 and 750 nanometers. Red was commonly the first color term added to languages after the colors of black and white. As well as this, the color was the first color to be used by humans. Because of this, certain languages used the word for the color red to simply be the word for any color visible to the human eye.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red pigments</span> Materials used to make red colors in painting

Red pigments are materials, usually made from minerals, used to create the red colors in painting and other arts. The color of red and other pigments is determined by the way it absorbs certain parts of the spectrum of visible light and reflects the others. The brilliant opaque red of vermillion, for example, results because vermillion reflects the major part of red light, but absorbs the blue, green and yellow parts of white light.

References

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  33. Virey, M.J.J. (1840), "Remarks on the former uses of purple or scarlet colouring insects. New cochineal of Persia and Armenia.", in Watt, Charles; Watt, John Jr. (eds.), The Chemist: Or, Reporter of Chemical Discoveries and Improvements, and Protector of the Rights of the Chemist and Chemical Manufacturer, vol. I, London, United Kingdom: R. Hastings, pp. 209–210
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  35. 1 2 3 "Vordan Karmir: The Red Worm (From the Soviet Armenia Encyclopedia, Vol. 8, 1982, pp. 642–43)". Oriental Rug Review. VIII (5). Oriental Rug Auction Review: 42–43. 1988. Archived from the original on 2013-07-01. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  36. Cardon (2007) cites her own field mission in Armenia in 1989 as well as the papers by Jakubski (1965) and Mktrtchian and Sarkisov (1985) for her description of Porphyrophora hamelii biology, which states that the mating time is from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. The Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia (1982) and the online Red Book of Armenia (which cites Mktchyan and Sarkisov (1985) and others) state that the mating time is from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. Note that in 1982 and 1985 the emergence of the insects in early September would have been in Armenian Summer Time (UTC+5), whereas the Republic of Armenia has been on UTC+4 time year-round since 2012.
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  38. «Որդան Կարմիր» Պետական Արգելավայրի Կանոնադրությունը Հաստատելու Մասին ["Vordan Karmir" State Reservation Statute of Approval]. Armenian Legal Information System (ARLIS.am) (in Armenian). Government of the Republic of Armenia. July 12, 2003. Retrieved 10 October 2014. 1. «Որդան կարմիր» պետական արգելավայրը (այսուհետ` արգելավայր) ստեղծվել է Հայկական Սովետական Սոցիալիստական Հանրապետության Մինիստրների խորհրդի 1987 թվականի փետրվարի 2-ի N 61 որոշմամբ` Հայաստանի Հանրապետության Արմավիրի մարզի աղուտ հողերի վրա: Արգելավայրն զբաղեցնում է 219.85 հեկտար տարածք, բաղկացած է երկու առանձին տեղամասերից` Արազափի գյուղական համայնքի հյուսիսարևմտյան մասում (198.33 հեկտար) և Ջրառատի գյուղական համայնքի հյուսիսային մասում (21.52 հեկտար)` Արարատյան հարթավայրում, ծովի մակերևույթից 835–850 մետր բարձրության վրա:
  39. "Էնդեմիկ Տեսակներ: Կենդանիներ [Endemic Species: Animals]", Հայաստանի Ազգային Ատլաս [Armenian National Atlas] (in Armenian), vol. I, Yerevan, Armenia: "Geodeziayi ev Kʻartezagrutʻyan Kentron" POAK, 2007, p. 83, ISBN   978-99941-0-176-4 , retrieved 3 January 2015
  40. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, Version 3.1, Second Edition (PDF) (Report). International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission. 9 February 2000. pp. 16–17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 January 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2014.