| Newsteadia floccosa | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Suborder: | Sternorrhyncha |
| Family: | Ortheziidae |
| Genus: | Newsteadia |
| Species: | N. floccosa |
| Binomial name | |
| Newsteadia floccosa (De Geer, 1778) | |
Newsteadia floccosa, the boreal ensign scale, [1] is a species of scale insect in the family Ortheziidae. It is native to Europe and is found in the soil and amongst plant litter and mosses on the ground. [2]
The adult female is about 1.6 mm (0.063 in) long and has a round or oval shape, a pair of yellow antennae, three pairs of yellow legs and no wings. The antennae usually have six segments, the two basal ones being larger than the remainder. The eyes are borne on curved stalks. The upper surface of the body is yellow and covered by ten ornate, white waxy plates, in two longitudinal rows; the sides of the insect bear a further ten marginal waxy processes, which are smallest at the front and largest at the rear. Behind the insect is the ovisac, a waxy pouch that encloses the eggs, extending from the underside of the abdomen. It has ribbed sculpting and is similar in length to the body. The adult male has been described but is seldom observed. [1] [3]
Newsteadia floccosa has been found in soil samples taken from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Corsica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In a Europe-wide study conducted using samples from the Hungarian Natural History Museum, this species was found to be the most common scale insect present in the soil. Although there was some variability across the range, especially in the number of antennal segments, the researchers were satisfied that they represented morphological variation of N. floccosa. [4] It is found at high elevations in moss growing in wet meadows as well as in forest floor litter. [3]
Scale insects in general feed by sucking the sap of plants, [2] however the feeding habits of this and other members of the genus Newsteadia are unclear; Morrison (1925) suggested that it might feed on fungal hyphae, or alternatively suck sap from exposed roots. [5] [6]
The Protura, or proturans, and sometimes nicknamed coneheads, are very small, soil-dwelling animals, so inconspicuous they were not noticed until the 20th century. The Protura constitute an order of hexapods that were previously regarded as insects, and sometimes treated as a class in their own right.
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.
Lepidosaphes ulmi also known as apple mussel scale or oystershell scale is a widely invasive scale insect that is a pest of trees and woody plants. The small insects attach themselves to bark and cause injury by sucking the tree's sap; this metabolic drain on the plant may kill a branch or the entire tree.
The external morphology of Lepidoptera is the physiological structure of the bodies of insects belonging to the order Lepidoptera, also known as butterflies and moths. Lepidoptera are distinguished from other orders by the presence of scales on the external parts of the body and appendages, especially the wings. Butterflies and moths vary in size from microlepidoptera only a few millimetres long, to a wingspan of many inches such as the Atlas moth. Comprising over 160,000 described species, the Lepidoptera possess variations of the basic body structure which has evolved to gain advantages in adaptation and distribution.
Lixus concavus, commonly called the rhubarb curculio, is a species of weevil. Rhubarb is a host, together with dock, sunflower, and thistle.
Diaphorina citri, the Asian citrus psyllid, is a sap-sucking, hemipteran bug in the family Psyllidae. It is one of two confirmed vectors of citrus greening disease. It has a wide distribution in southern Asia and has spread to other citrus growing regions.
Micrococcidae is a family of scale insects commonly known as the Mediterranean scales. There are two genera and eight species. Members of this family are found in Cyprus, Italy and other Mediterranean countries including Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Syria and Turkey.
Ortheziidae is a family of scale insects commonly known as the ensign scales or ortheziids. They occur in most parts of the world but the majority of the species are found in the Neotropical and Nearctic regions while there are not many species in Australasia and the Far East. There are twenty valid genera and 198 species.
Newsteadia is a genus of ensign scale insects in the superfamily Coccoidea. Most species are inconspicuous, measuring under two millimeters long and found in leaf litter.
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Aleurodicus dispersus, the spiralling whitefly, is a species of small, white sap-sucking insect, a true bug in the order Hemiptera. It originated in Central America and the Caribbean region and has spread to many of the world's tropical and subtropical regions, where it has become a major pest of agricultural crops.
Aonidiella orientalis is a species of insect in the family Diaspididae, the armored scale insects. It is known commonly as the Oriental yellow scale. It is an agricultural pest on a wide variety of crop plants.
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Cleora scriptaria, the kawakawa looper moth, is a moth in the family Geometridae endemic to New Zealand.
Aonidiella citrina or yellow scale is an armored scale insect from the family Diaspididae. It feeds by sucking sap from plants in a number of plant families, but is mostly known for being a pest of citrus.
Hemiberlesia lataniae, the latania or palm scale, is a species of armored scale insect in the family Diaspididae. It was first described by the French entomologist Victor Antoine Signoret in 1869 using Latania lontaroides, a species of palm tree endemic to Réunion as its host; since then, it has been found on avocado trees growing in South Africa, Australia, Israel, the United States, and on a range of other plants in many parts of the world.
Scutigerella immaculata, commonly known as the garden symphylan or glasshouse symphylid, is a species of myriapod in the family Scutigerellidae. It may have originated in Europe but now has a cosmopolitan distribution and can be a pest of crops.
'Blera metcalfi , Metcalf's wood fly, is a rare species of syrphid fly first officially described by Curran in 1925 Hoverflies get their name from the ability to remain nearly motionless while in flight. The adults are also known as flower flies for they are commonly found around and on flowers from which they get both energy-giving nectar and protein rich pollen. The larvae are of the rat-tailed type feeding on exuding sap or in the rot holes of trees.
Planococcus ficus, commonly known as the vine mealybug, is a species of mealybug, belonging to the family Pseudococcidae, native to tropical and subtropical regions. The vine mealybug is found in Europe, Northern Africa, Southern Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East. The vine mealybug is invasive to weedy plants in many different regions of the world.