Scale insect

Abstract: Armored scale insects are among the most damaging and least understood of the pests that prey on forest trees, fruit and nut crops, landscape ornamentals, and greenhouse plants. The passage of U.S. plant quarantine laws was prompted by devastation caused by an armored scale in the nineteenth century, and the appearance of new invasive species remains a vital concern at ports of entry and for arborists, farmers, nursery workers, foresters, and gardeners everywhere. This book provides the most comprehensive available information on the identification, field appearance, life history, and economic importance of the 110 economically important armored scale insects that are found in the United States. The authors have devised the first field key to economic armored scales, which will be invaluable to those trying to identify the pests and prevent the introduction of new exotics. (Most of the species covered are not native to the United States but broadly distributed across the globe.) The extensive color plates and highly detailed line drawings surpass anything available in other volumes on armored scale insects, and have not previously been published. Especially noteworthy are the data on distribution, host plants, and the kinds of damage caused by armored scales. The species descriptions include scientific names, synonyms, common names, field characteristics, microscopic characters, affinities, host plants, distribution by state, life history, economic damage, and selected references.

Abstract: Preface Photographs and SEM micrographs Contributors to this Volume Part 1 THE SOFT SCALE INSECTS Morphology, Systematics and Phylogeny Diagnosis (Y Ben-Dov) The Adult Female (D Matilde-Ferrero) The Adult Male (JH Giliomee) The Immature Stages (ML Williams) The Male Test (GL Miller, ML Williams) Chemistry of the Test Cover (Y Tamaki) Internal Anatomy of the Adult Female (I Foldi) Ultrastructure of Integumentary Glands (I Foldi) Taxonomic Characters - Adult Female (CJ Hodgson) Taxonomic Characters - Adult Male (JH Giliomee) Taxonomic Characters - Nymphs (ML Williams, GS Hodges) Classification of the Coccidae and Related Coccoid Families (CJ Hodgson) Intraspecific Variation of Taxonomic Characters (EM Danzig) Zoogeographical Considerations and Status of Knowledge of the Family (F Kozar, Y Ben-Dov) Phylogeny (DR Miller, CJ Hodgson) Biology General Life History (S Marotta) Embryonic Development Oviparity and Viviparity (E Tremblay) Endosymbionts (E Tremblay) Morphology and Anatomy of Honeydew Eliminating Organs (CP Malumphy) Sooty Moulds (RK Mibey) Scale Insect Honeydew as Forage for Honey Production (H Kunkel) The Pela Wax Scale and Commercial Wax Production (TK Qin) Ecology Effects on Host Plant (JA Vranjic) Gall Formation (JW Beardsley) Crawler Behaviour and Dispersal (DJ Greathead) Seasonal History Diapause (S Marotta, A Tranfaglia) Relationships with Ants (PJ Gullan) Encapsulation of Parasitoids (D Blumberg) Techniques Collecting and Mounting (Y Ben-Dov, CJ Hodgson) Laboratory and Mass Rearing (M Rose, S Stauffer) General Index Index to Coccoidea Taxa, Index to Names of Pathogens, Predatorsand Parasitoids Index of Names of Plants

Abstract: The superfamily Coccoidea contains nearly 8000 species of plant-feeding hemipterans comprising up to 32 families divided traditionally into two informal groups, the archaeococcoids and the neococcoids. The neococcoids form a monophyletic group supported by both morphological and genetic data. In contrast, the monophyly of the archaeococcoids is uncertain and the higher level ranks within it have been controversial, particularly since the late Professor Jan Koteja introduced his multi-family classification for scale insects in 1974. Recent phylogenetic studies using molecular and morphological data support the recognition of up to 15 extant families of archaeococcoids, including 11 families for the former Margarodidae sensu lato, vindicating Koteja's views. Archaeococcoids are represented better in the fossil record than neococcoids, and have an adequate record through the Tertiary and Cretaceous but almost no putative coccoid fossils are known from earlier. In contrast, the sister group of the scale insects (Aphidoidea) has a more informative Jurassic and Triassic record. Relationships among most scale insect families are unresolved in phylogenetic trees based on nuclear DNA sequences, and most nodes in trees based on morphological data, including those from adult males, are poorly supported. Within the neococcoids, the Eriococcidae is not monophyletic and the monophyly of the Coccidae and Diaspididae may be compromised by the current family-level recognition of a few species-poor autapomorphic groups.

Abstract: Although DNA barcode coverage has grown rapidly for many insect orders, there are some groups, such as scale insects, where sequence recovery has been difficult. However, using a recently developed primer set, we recovered barcode records from 373 specimens, providing coverage for 75 species from 31 genera in two families. Overall success was >90% for mealybugs and >80% for armored scale species. The G·C content was very low in most species, averaging just 16.3%. Sequence divergences (K2P) between congeneric species averaged 10.7%, while intra-specific divergences averaged 0.97%. However, the latter value was inflated by high intra-specific divergence in nine taxa, cases that may indicate species overlooked by current taxonomic treatments. Our study establishes the feasibility of developing a comprehensive barcode library for scale insects and indicates that its construction will both create an effective system for identifying scale insects and reveal taxonomic situations worthy of deeper analysis.