''Trabutina'' is a genus of "
blue-green
Blue-green is the color between blue and green. It belongs to the shades of cyan, cyan family.
Variations Cyan
Cyan is the blue-green color that is between blue and green on a modern RGB color model, RGB color wheel.
The modern RGB co ...
"
mealybugs
Mealybugs are insects in the family Pseudococcidae, unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm habitats. Of the more than 2,000 described species, many are considered pests as they feed on plant juices of greenhouse plants, house plants and su ...
,
containing five species: ''
T. crassispinosa'', ''
T. elastica'', ''
T. mannipara'', ''
T. serpentina'', and ''
T. tenax''.
This genus of
scale insects
Scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient grouping than the ...
feeds solely on plants of the genus ''
Tamarix
The genus ''Tamarix'' (tamarisk, salt cedar, taray) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Ta ...
''.
Its
type species
In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...
is '' T. mannipara''.
''Trabutina'' insects produce a sweet excretion which is used as a food in Israel and Iraq.
''
Polyrhachis simplex'', a species of weaver ants, also feeds on the sugary secretions.
References
Sternorrhyncha genera
Pseudococcidae
{{Coccoidea-stub