Family DIASPIDIDAE

Diaspididae, Armoured Scales

© Copyright Commonwealth of Australia

Museums

Regional Maps

Introduction

The armoured scales, or diaspidids, are some of the most familiar members of the Coccoidea. Worldwide they number over 1700 species (Borschsenius 1966). Two hundred and forty-six species in 93 genera are listed for the Australian fauna. Among these are some 24 introduced species, several of which are serious pests of the citrus industry. However, most of the species are endemic to Australia. A brief account of morphology and life history of armoured scales is given by Williams (1991).

Specimens thought to represent the genus Leonardaspis MacGillivray, 1921 have been found in Australia, but have not been identified to species level.

Excluded Taxa

Other Excluded

DIASPIDIDAE: Pentalaminaspis minuta (Kotinsky, 1908) [presence in Australia is based on a USNM specimen labelled "Australia: Mont. Rhasia, ex. Loranthus ampullaceus [=Macrosolen cochinchinensis] listed by Smith-Pardo et al. (2012). No gazetteer lists the locality in Australia and the host plant is not known in the country as well, all of which leads to think of a mislabelling.] — Smith-Pardo, A.H., Evans, G.A. & Dooley, J.W. 2012. A review of the genus Chrysomphalus Ashmead (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Diaspididae) with descriptions of a new species and a new, related genus. Zootaxa 3570: 1–24 [22]

General References

Borchsenius, N.S. 1966. [A Catalogue of the Armoured Scale Insects (Diaspidoidea) of the World]. Moscow & Leningrad : Nauka 449 pp. [in Russian]

MacGillivray, A.D. 1921. The Coccidae. Tables for the identification of the subfamilies and some of the more important genera and species together with discussions of their anatomy and life history. Urbana, Illinois : Scarab Company vi 502 pp. [274]

Williams, D.J. 1991. Superfamily Coccoidea. pp. 457–464 in, Chapter 30. Hemiptera (Bugs, leafhoppers, cicadas, aphids, scale insects etc.). pp. 429-509 in CSIRO (ed.). The Insects of Australia. A textbook for students and research workers. Melbourne : Melbourne University Press Vol. 1 xiii 542 pp.

Common Name References

Williams, D.J. 1991. Superfamily Coccoidea. pp. 457–464 in, Chapter 30. Hemiptera (Bugs, leafhoppers, cicadas, aphids, scale insects etc.). pp. 429-509 in CSIRO (ed.). The Insects of Australia. A textbook for students and research workers. Melbourne : Melbourne University Press Vol. 1 xiii 542 pp. (Diaspidids)

History of changes