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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #173571
Title: SCALE FAMILIES

Author
item Miller, Douglass
item RUNG, ALESAANDRA - U. OF MARYLAND
item VENABLE, GEORGE - BELTSVILLE, MARYLAND
item GILL, RAY - CALIF DEPT OF AG

Submitted to: Systematic Entomology Laboratory World Wide Web Site
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/20/2004
Publication Date: 12/20/2004
Citation: Miller, D.R., Rung, A., Venable, G., Gill, R. 2004. Scale families. Systematic Entomology Laboratory World Wide Web Site. Put on web 12/20/2004. http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/scalekeys/all.families.htm. 1:1

Interpretive Summary: Scale insects are common pests, and many are invasive species. Invasives constitute about 25% of all scale insect species that occur in the United States. These invasive scale insects cause millions of dollars damage annually and are major pests in greenhouses, fruit and nut crop systems, forests, and ornamental plantings. A mandate of APHIS and the Department of Homeland Security is prevention of new invasive species. One of the problems in fulfilling this mandate is to make accurate and timely identifications of the numerous insects that are intercepted at U. S. ports-of-entry or are suspected to be new invaders some place in the U. S. The purpose of this research is to provide a comprehensively illustrated expert system that will facilitate the identification of scale insect families. Information is also provided on primary references, distribution, and a list of all species and genera in each family. This research will be of special interest and utility to APHIS identifiers, but also is important to State Department of Agriculture personnel, extension specialists, and scale insect researchers.

Technical Abstract: This research provides a Lucid expert system for the identification of the 31 families and family groups of scale insects. The system includes an identification key with images of each character state, a well illustrated glossary of terms, images of each family showing a typical example of species in the field, through a compound microscope, and with a line drawing. Catalog information is provided for primary references, distribution, and a list of all species and genera in the family through links to an online database system called ScaleNet (http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/scalenet/scalenet.htm).