{{Short description|Family of true bugs}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Armored scale insects.png | image_caption = Three species of armored scales | taxon = Diaspididae | authority = Maskell, 1878 }}

'''Diaspididae''' is the largest family of scale insects with over 2650 described species in around 400 genera. As with all scale insects, the female produces a waxy protective scale beneath which it feeds on its host plant. Diaspidid scales are far more substantial than those of most other families, incorporating the exuviae from the first two nymphal instars and sometimes faecal matter and fragments of the host plant.<ref name=Miller>{{cite book|author1=Miller, Douglass R. |author2= Davidson, John A.|title=Armored Scale Insect Pests of Trees and Shrubs (Hemiptera : Diaspididae) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PhgyeCnpklMC |year=2005 |publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=0-8014-4279-6|page=1}}</ref> These can be complex and extremely waterproof structures rather resembling a suit of armor. For this reason these insects are commonly referred to as '''armored scale insects'''. As it is so robust and firmly attached to the host plant, the scale often persists long after the insect has died.

Some African Diaspididae are attended by ants of genus ''Melissotarsus''. The ants appear to consume the armored scales because Diaspididae are completely naked when ant-attended; the ant nest itself remains completely hidden under the bark of the tree.<ref name="Delabie 2001"/>

==Selected species== Notable species include:

* ''Abgrallaspis cyanophylli'', the cyanophyllum scale * ''Aonidiella aurantii'', the California red scale * ''Aonidomytilus crookiae'' the St. John's Wort scale * ''Aulacaspis yasumatsui'', the cycad aulacaspis scale * ''Carulaspis minima'', the minute cypress scale * ''Diaspidiotus perniciosus'', the San Jose scale * ''Hemiberlesia lataniae'', the latania or palm scale * ''Lepidosaphes beckii'', the citrus mussel scale * ''Lepidosaphes ulmi'', the oystershell scale * ''Quadraspidiotus juglansregiae'', the walnut scale

==Subfamilies== The classification of the subfamilies and tribes of Diaspididae has varied in recent years. Research published in 2019 classified the subfamilies and tribes of Diaspididae as follows:<ref name=GarcíaMorales/><ref name=catlife/> : '''Subfamily''' Ancepaspidinae (New World, 6 genera) : '''Subfamily''' Aspidiotinae :: Tribe Aonidiini (Old World, mostly Australasian and Oriental, 36 genera) :: Tribe Aspidiotini (cosmopolitan, 88 genera) :: Tribe Gymnaspidini (Neotropical, 3 genera) :: Tribe Leucaspidini (almost exclusively Old World, 11 genera) :: Tribe Odonaspidini (mostly Oriental, 5 genera) :: Tribe Parlatoriini (mostly Oriental, 25 genera) :: Tribe Smilacicolini (Oriental, 1 genus) : '''Subfamily''' Diaspidinae :: Tribe Lepidosaphidini (cosmopolitan, 103 genera) :: Tribe Diaspidini ::: Subtribe Chionaspidina (cosmopolitan except South America, 48 genera) ::: Subtribe Diaspidina (cosmopolitan except Australasia, 13 genera) ::: Subtribe Fioriniina (almost exclusively Old World, 64 genera) : '''Subfamily''' Furcaspidinae (Pantropical, 1 genus)

==See also== List of Diaspididae genera

==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=GarcíaMorales> {{Cite web | title = ScaleNet: A literature-based model of scale insect biology and systematics | last1 = García Morales | first1 = M.| last2 = Denno | first2 = B. D.| last3 = Miller | first3 = D. R.| last4 = Miller | first4 = G. L. | last5 = Ben-Dov | first5 = Y| last6 = Hardy | first6 = N. B. | display-authors = 4 | doi = 10.1093/database/bav118| doi-access = free | url = http://scalenet.info/| access-date = 2024-10-19 }}</ref>

<ref name=catlife> {{Cite web| title=Catalogue of Life, Diaspididae Targioni Tozzetti 1868 | url=https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/taxon/C9HT9 | access-date=2025-01-20 }}</ref>

<ref name="Delabie 2001">{{cite journal |last1=Delabie|first1=J.H.C.|title=Trophobiosis between Formicidae and Hemiptera (Sternorrhyncha and Auchenorrhyncha): an overview |journal=Neotropical Entomology |date=2001 |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=501–516 |doi=10.1590/S1519-566X2001000400001|doi-access=free }}</ref> }} {{refbegin}} *{{Cite book|last = Борхсениус (Borchsenius) | first = Н. С. (N. S.) |year = 1966 | title =Каталог щитовок (Диаспидоидеа) мировой фауны (A catalogue of the armoured scale insects (Diaspidoidea) of the world)|language=Russian|location=Moscow | publisher = Академия наук СССР &ndash; Зоологический институт (Zoological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences)}} *{{Cite book | last = Howard | first = Forrest D.| year = 2001 |chapter=Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha|editor=Howard, Forrest D.|title = Insects on Palms |location=Wallingford, Oxfordshire| publisher = CABI Publishing|pages=161&ndash;226|isbn=978-0-85199-326-3 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=IL5jorrwFLYC|display-editors=etal}} *{{Cite journal | last = Takagi | first = Sadao | year = 2002 | title = One new subfamily and two new tribes of the Diaspididae (Homoptera: Coccoidea) | journal = Insecta Matsumurana | volume = 59 | pages = 55–100 | url = http://eprints2008.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/9912/1/59_p55-100.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131228153552/http://eprints2008.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/9912/1/59_p55-100.pdf | archive-date = 28 December 2013 | url-status = dead | access-date = 30 December 2013 }} {{refend}}

==External links== {{refbegin}} * {{inaturalist taxon|48093}} * {{Commons-inline}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20130312100248/http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/scalecgi/chklist.exe?Family=Diaspididae&genus= Diaspididae] at [https://web.archive.org/web/20130404165159/http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/scalenet/scalenet.htm ScaleNet] *[http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/palms/cycad_scale.htm ''Aulacaspis yasumatsui'', cycad aulacaspis scale] *[http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/palms/palmetto_scale.htm ''Comstockiella sabalis'', palmetto scale] *[http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/scales/boisduval_scale.htm ''Diaspis boisduvalii'', boisduval scale] *[http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/scales/tea_scale.htm ''Fiorinia theae'', tea scale] *[http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/scales/black_thread_scale.htm ''Ischnaspis longirostris'', black thread scale] *[http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/scales/false_oleander_scale.htm ''Pseudaulacaspis cockerelli'', false oleander scale] *[http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/scales/white_peach_scale.htm ''Pseudaulacaspis pentagona'', white peach scale] *{{Wikispecies-inline}} {{refend}}

{{Hemiptera|2}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q373290}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Diaspididae Category:Scale insects Category:Hemiptera families Category:Neococcoids

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