Superfamily Coccoidea - Scales and Mealybugs

summary of classification and relationships of higher taxa in (1)

~1100 spp. in ~250 genera of 28 families in our area; >8,400 spp. in ~1,180 genera of 36 families worldwide(2)

Males winged, females wingless. Adult females have no appendages or they are atrophied resulting in a scale-like or gall-like body covered in a layer of wax in the form of powder, tufts or plates.

Parasitic on plants, tend to be host-specific. Symbiotic proteobacteria Tremblaya principes and Moranella endobia help providing the insect with amino acids.(7)

Most start as free-moving crawlers, with the females becoming less mobile as they mature. In most groups, the females attach to a single spot and lose legs, antennae, etc., and begin to look more like some kind of growth. Both mobile and non-mobile types develop thick protective layers of wax or other inert substances, often in elaborate shapes. The female lays eggs often in a large sac hidden under her own protective covering; the crawlers hatch to move on to new feeding sites. The last 2 larval stages do not feed.(7)

Adult males rarely noticed, look somewhat like winged aphids:

Most gain the protection of ants by secreting a honeydew. Normally only a minor pest (mostly as disease vector), but non-native species can build up to devastating numbers. Some of the earliest and most successful uses of biocontrol have been against this group.

Whiteflies undergo a similar legless, attached stage as nymphs, but then both males and females develop into winged adults.