Cerococcidae is a family of
scale insects commonly known as ornate pit scales or cerococcids. There are 83 species in 5 genera. Members of this family occur in all regions of the world.
Description
Adult females produce a protective waxy
test
Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to:
* Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities
Arts and entertainment
* ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film
* ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
that shields their body. The tests are mostly creamy or varying shades of brown but some species have orange, yellow, red, pink or white. Male tests are smaller and narrower than those of the females and are developed in the second
instar
An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ...
. Species in the genera ''
Asterococcus'' and ''
Solenophora'' incorporate the shed skin of the first instar in their test. The second instar females are believed to develop tests in these genera but in ''
Cerococcus'' it is the third instars that do so.
[
]
Life cycle
Ornate pit scales have three instar stages in the females and five in the males. In the United States, where a few species of ''Cerococcus'' have been studied, there is a single generation each year and the eggs overwinter inside the female test. They hatch in the spring and emerge through a small hole at the back. These first instars are ambulatory and disperse around the host plant. Second instars appear early in the summer and adults towards the end of summer, with egg-laying taking place in the autumn. Males occur in most species.[
]
Genera
* '' Antecerococcus'' 56 species
* '' Asterococcus'' 9 species
* '' Cerochiton'' 3 species
* '' Cerococcus'' 62 species
* '' Solenophora'' 1 species
References
Scale insects
Hemiptera families
Neococcoids
{{Coccoidea-stub