| Phoenicococcidae | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Suborder: | Sternorrhyncha |
| Infraorder: | Coccomorpha |
| Superfamily: | Coccoidea |
| Family: | Phoenicococcidae Stickney, 1934 [1] |
| Genera | |
See text | |
Phoenicococcidae is a family of scale insects commonly known as palm scales or phoenicococcids. There is a single genus containing one species, Phoenicococcus marlatti. [2]
Palms in the genus Phoenix are the main host for Phoenicococcus marlatti but occasionally it has been found infesting other palms. It is widely distributed in areas where palms grow but it is likely that it is native to north Africa. [2]
Adult phoenicococcids are nearly circular, up to 1.5 millimetres long and a dark red colour. They are usually found embedded in a white waxy nest at the base of palm fronds. They have no legs and the antennae have a single segment. [2]
There are three instars in the female and five in the male phoenicococcid. There are many overlapping generations with scales of all ages being present at any time of year. Development takes about sixty days in warm conditions but is much slower with cooler conditions. [3]
The Arecaceae is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees. Currently, 181 genera with around 2,600 species are known, most of which are restricted to tropical and subtropical climates. Most palms are distinguished by their large, compound, evergreen leaves, known as fronds, arranged at the top of an unbranched stem, except for the Hyphaene genus, who has branched palms. However, palms exhibit an enormous diversity in physical characteristics and inhabit nearly every type of habitat within their range, from rainforests to deserts.
Phoenix dactylifera, commonly known as the date palm, is a flowering-plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, and is naturalized in many tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. P. dactylifera is the type species of genus Phoenix, which contains 12–19 species of wild date palms.
El Yunque National Forest, formerly known as the Caribbean National Forest, is a forest located in northeastern Puerto Rico. It is the only tropical rainforest in the United States National Forest System and the United States Forest Service. El Yunque National Forest is located on the slopes of the Sierra de Luquillo mountains, encompassing more than 28,000 acres of land, making it the largest block of public land in Puerto Rico.
Phoenix is a genus of 14 species of palms, native to an area starting from the Canary Islands in the west, across northern and central Africa, to the extreme southeast of Europe (Crete), and continuing throughout southern Asia, from Anatolia east to southern China and Malaysia. The diverse habitats they occupy include swamps, deserts, and mangrove sea coasts. Most Phoenix species originate in semi-arid regions, but usually occur near high groundwater levels, rivers, or springs. The genus is unusual among members of subfamily Coryphoideae in having pinnate, rather than palmate leaves; tribe Caryoteae also have pinnate or bipinnate leaves.
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 flora and fauna of Bermuda form part of a unique ecosystem due to Bermuda's isolation from the mainland of North America. The wide range of endemic species and the islands form a distinct ecoregion, the Bermuda subtropical conifer forests.
Salix nigra, the black willow, is a species of willow native to eastern North America, from New Brunswick and southern Ontario west to Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and Texas.
The palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus is one of two species of snout beetle known as the red palm weevil, Asian palm weevil or sago palm weevil. The adult beetles are relatively large, ranging between 2 and 4 centimetres long, and are usually a rusty red colour—but many colour variants exist and have often been classified as different species. Weevil larvae can excavate holes in the trunks of palm trees up to 1 metre (3.3 ft) long, thereby weakening and eventually killing the host plant. As a result, the weevil is considered a major pest in palm plantations, including the coconut palm, date palm and oil palm.
Sabal palmetto, also known as cabbage palm, cabbage palmetto, sabal palm, blue palmetto, Carolina palmetto, common palmetto, Garfield's tree, and swamp cabbage, is one of 15 species of palmetto palm. It is native to the Southern United States, the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, and the West Indies.
Euonymus americanus is a species of flowering plant in the family Celastraceae. Common names include strawberry bush, American strawberry bush, bursting-heart, hearts-a-bustin, and hearts-bustin'-with-love. It is native to the eastern United States, its distribution extending as far west as Texas. It has also been recorded in Ontario.
Dictyosperma is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family found in the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean. The sole species, Dictyosperma album, is widely cultivated in the tropics but has been farmed to near extinction in its native habitat. It is commonly called princess palm or hurricane palm, the latter owing to its ability to withstand strong winds by easily shedding leaves. It is closely related to, and resembles, palms in the genus Archontophoenix. The genus is named from two Greek words meaning "net" and "seed" and the epithet is Latin for "white", the common color of the crownshaft at the top of the trunk.
Conchaspis capensis is a species of scale insect from South Africa found on Metalasia muricata and Phylica species. It was originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1763 work Centuria Insectorum.
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.
Caryobruchus gleditsiae is a species of beetle in the family Chrysomelidae. It lives in North and Central America and develops inside the seeds of palm trees. Adults grow to a maximum length of 11 mm (0.43 in), the size depending on the size of the seed it grew up in. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1763 Centuria Insectorum.
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.
The South American palm weevil, Rhynchophorus palmarum, is a species of snout beetle. The adults are relatively large black beetles of approximately one and a half inch in length, and the larvae may grow to two inches in length.
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.
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.
Parlatoria blanchardi, the date palm scale, is a species of armored scale insect in the family Diaspididae. It is a widespread and serious pest of palms, both date palms and ornamental species.
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