Scale insects and their control

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. Scale insects appeared in the Triassic, before their modern food plants, the angiosperms, had evolved; early forms probably fed on gymnosperms.

Autorentext
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Raheem Ali Abdel-Raheem, Pests & Plant Protection Department, Agricultural and Biological Research Institute, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt and Assist. Prof. Wafaa Mohammed EL-Baradey, Scale insects and Mealy bugs Research Department, Plant Protection Research Institute, Agric. Res. Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.