Micrococcidae is a family of scale insects commonly known as the Mediterranean scales. There are two genera and eight

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

. Members of this family are found in Cyprus, Italy Global Biodiversity Information Facility
/ref> and other Mediterranean countries including Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Syria and Turkey.

Taxonomy

Members of this family feed on monocotyledonous hosts as do members of the

Aclerdidae Aclerdidae are a family of Coccoidea, the scale insects. They are usually found on grasses Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the c ...

which is believed to be a sister clade. The Asterolecanoid taxa form a well-defined group of families which also includes the

Asterolecaniidae Asterolecaniidae is a family of scale insects commonly known as pit scales or asterolecaniids. They typically cause a depression in the host plant's tissues and often cause distortion of the shoots. They are found on a range of hosts but are espe ...

, Cerococcidae,

Lecanodiaspididae Lecanodiaspididae is a family of scale insects commonly known as false pit scales or lecanodiaspidids. Members of this family come from all parts of the world but are most numerous in the Far East.Pollinia pollini A pollinium (plural pollinia) is a coherent mass of pollen grains in a plant that are the product of only one anther, but are transferred, during pollination, as a single unit. This is regularly seen in plants such as orchids and many species of mil ...

''. The placement of the latter is problematic as it seems to be the sister group to the rest of the Asterolecanoid taxa.

Biology

Adult females are broadly oval with six legs and a pair of antennae. They can be distinguished from members of other scale families by the fact that the vulvae are found on abdominal segment VI rather than on segment VIII. There are usually four female and five male instars.

Genera

* '' Micrococcus'' * '' Molluscococcus''

References

Scale insects Hemiptera families Neococcoids Taxa named by Filippo Silvestri {{Coccoidea-stub