Family ORTHEZIIDAE

Ortheziid

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Introduction

The Orthezidae is regarded as a primitive family that may have originated in the Cretaceous Africa-South America land mass and subsequently dispersed to other areas on Recent plant families (Williams 1984). The adult female secretes symmetrical wax plates on the dorsum, and a distinctive wax ovisac at the posterior end of the abdomen.

The described Australian fauna comprises three genera and eight species and includes introduced species.

The phylogeny of the family was reviewed by Vea & Grimaldi (2012), based on a study of the morphology of Recent and fossil females.

General References

Vea, I.M. & Grimaldi, D.A. 2012. Phylogeny of ensign scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Ortheziidae) based on the morphology of Recent and fossil females. Systematic Entomology 37(4): 758-783

Williams, D.J. 1984. Some aspects of the zoogeography of scale insects (Homoptera: Coccoidea). Verh. X Int. Symp. Entomofaunistik Mitteleur. 331-330 pp.

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.

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