''Kermes vermilio'' is a species of ''
Kermes'' that feeds on trees. Some of the species are used to make
vermilion; though a mineral form used in many cultures and discovered at a similar time is
cinnabar
Cinnabar (; ), or cinnabarite (), also known as ''mercurblende'' is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of Mercury sulfide, mercury(II) sulfide (HgS). It is the most common source ore for refining mercury (element), elemental mercury and is t ...
(crystallized HgS,
mercury sulfide). For details of further chemical alternatives see
vermilion.
Sister species
The word (and dye)
crimson is a corruption-derivative of
kermes – the organism's genus, chiefly referring to its other species.
Naturenet article with images and description of ''Kermes vermilio'' and its foodplant
/ref>
See also
*Cochineal
The cochineal ( , ; ''Dactylopius coccus'') is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the natural dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessility (motility), sessile parasitism, parasite native to tropical and subtropical Sout ...
* Armenian cochineal (''kirmiz'')
* Vermilion
References
Insects described in 1864
Animal dyes
Kermesidae
{{Coccoidea-stub