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Mealybugs are insects in the family Pseudococcidae, unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm habitats. Of the more than 2000 described species, many are considered pests as they feed on plant juices of greenhouse plants, house plants and subtropical trees and also act as a vector for several plant diseases. Some ants live in symbiotic relationships with them, protecting them from predators and feeding off the honeydew which they excrete.
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.
The Tettigarctidae, known as the hairy cicadas, are a small relict family of primitive cicadas. Along with more than 20 extinct genera, Tettigarctidae contains a single extant genus, Tettigarcta, with two extant species, one from southern Australia and one from the island of Tasmania. Numerous fossil species have been described from the Late Triassic onwards. Tettigarcta are the closest living relatives of the true cicadas.
Dugesia is a genus of dugesiid triclads that contains some common representatives of the class Turbellaria. These common flatworms are found in freshwater habitats of Africa, Eurasia, and Australia. Dugesia is best known to non-specialists because of its regeneration capacities.
Kuwanaspis is a genus of scale insects belonging to the family Diaspididae. They feed on bamboo. Including Phyllostachys heteroclada and Pleioblastus amarus.
Aulacaspis, is a scale insect genus in the family Diaspididae. The type species is Aulacaspis rosae.
Parlatoriini is a tribe of armored scale insects. Takagi (2002) indicated that the Parlatoriini appear to be phylogenetically related to the Smilacicola and the Odonaspidini. Takagi went on to say about the tropical east Asian Parlatoriini that, The current classification of their genera may be largely tentative because the adult females are simple-featured and much modified owing to the pupillarial mode of life, and also because the second instar nymphs are generally similar among parlatoriines, whether the adult females are pupillarial or not. Andersen found that separating out pupillarial forms into a separate subtribe, Gymnaspidina, was counterproductive, as being non-dispositive.
Pseudaulacaspis is a genus of scales and mealybugs in the family Diaspididae. There are at least 60 described species in Pseudaulacaspis.
Hemiberlesia is a genus of scales and mealybugs in the family Diaspididae. There are at least 30 described species in Hemiberlesia.
Parlatoria is a genus of scales and mealybugs in the family Diaspididae. There are at least 60 described species in Parlatoria.
Diaspis is a genus of scales and mealybugs in the family Diaspididae. There are at least 50 described species in Diaspis.
Paracoccus is a genus of true bugs belonging to the family Pseudococcidae.
Eriococcus is the type genus of scale insects in the family Eriococcidae, erected by Targioni-Tozzetti in 1868. Species records have a world-wide distribution, but this genus name is known to be polyphyletic, so species placement is subject to change.
References
- ↑ "Chionaspis" at the Encyclopedia of Life
- ↑ Gwiazdowski, Rodger A.; Vea, Isabelle M.; Andersen, Jeremy C.; Normark, Benjamin B. (2011). "Discovery of cryptic species among North American pine-feeding Chionaspis scale insects (Hemiptera: Diaspididae)". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 104 (1): 47–62. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2011.01716.x . Abstract
- 1 2 3 4 Vea, Isabelle M.; Gwiazdowski, Rodger A.; Normark, Benjamin B. (2013). "Corroborating molecular species discovery: Four new pine-feeding species of Chionaspis (Hemiptera, Diaspididae)". ZooKeys (270): 37–58. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.270.2910 . PMC 3652468 . PMID 23717184.
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