What are scale insects? Scale insects (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccoidea) are a group of small, plant feeding insects closely related to aphids and whiteflies. They are characterized by their unusual shapes, so much so that it is sometimes hard to recognize them as insects or even as animals! Adult females hardly ever move, lacking wings and often even legs. Instead of being able to run away...

A taxonomic revision is presented of the six Kermesidae species from Israel, namely, Kermes echinatus Balachowsky, K. greeni Bodenheimer, K. nahalali Bodenheimer, K. spatulatus Balachowsky, Nidularia balachowskii Bodenheimer, and K. hermonensis Spodek & Ben-Dov sp. n. Kermes bytinskii Sternlicht, syn. n. is established as a junior synonym of K. nahalali Bodenheimer and a lectotype for K. nahala...

Fifty-one species in 27 genera of Pseudococcidae, plus one species of Rhizoecidae and one species of Putoidae have been recorded from Iran based on literature data and on the material in the collection of the Hayk Mirzayans Insect Museum, Iran. Keys to the Iranian genera and species based on adult female morphology are provided and the distribution data of each species and their host-plants are...

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Bamboos were introduced into Europe from China and Japan in the early 1800s and their cultivation in parks and gardens became quite popular. The first records of scale insects on ornamental bamboos in Europe date to early in the XX century (i.e. Kuwanaspis pseudoleucaspis), but the presence of some species was unknown until recently due to their concealed habit (i.e. Balanococcus kwoni Pellizza...

The effects of environmental change on soil animal communities are poorly known. Norwegian mountains are subject to both atmospheric nitrogen deposition and increased temperature. In a nutrient poor alpine Dryas heath in south Norway, soil arthropods were studied after 4 years of simulated environmental change by warming and/or nutrient addition. Warming alone only affected three low-density Co...

The adult females of two new species of armored scale, Fiorinia tianshuiensis Wei & Feng sp. n. and F. dinghuensis Wei & Feng sp. n., are described and illustrated from specimens collected from China. A key is provided for the all Fiorilim species known from China.

Twenty-two species of legged mealybugs occur on bamboo (Poaceae: Bambusoideae) in China. These species are reviewed and two of them are described for the first time: Dysmicoccus luoyangensis Li & Wu, sp. nov. and Trionymus indocalamus Li & Wu, sp. nov. Two new combinations are established: Pseudococcus bambusicola Takahashi and Kaicoccus bambusus Wu are transferred to genus Formicococcus Takaha...

A new species of Dactylopius Costa (Dactylopius gracilipilus Van Dam & May) is described and illustrated. It is morphologically similar to Dactylopius tomentosus (Lamarck), but has more gracile truncate setae, abundant simple pores dorsally, and appears to be host-restricted to Corynopuntia Knuth (Cactaceae: Opuntioidea).

The oak red scale insect, Kuwania quercus (Kuwana), was described from specimens collected from the bark of oak trees (Quercus species) in Japan. More recently, the species has been identified from California and China, but Californian specimens differ morphologically from Japanese material and are considered here to be a new species based on both morphological and molecular data. In this paper...