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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #361423
Research Project: Systematics of Hemiptera and Related Groups: Plant Pests, Predators and Disease Vectors

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: An online interactive identification key to common pest species in Aspidiotini (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Diaspididae), version 1.0

Author
item Schneider, Scott
item FIZDALE, MICHAEL - Hampshire College
item NORMARK, BENJAMIN - University Of Massachusetts, Amherst

Submitted to: ZooKeys
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/19/2019
Publication Date: 7/30/2019
Citation: Schneider, S.A., Fizdale, M.A., Normark, B.B. 2019. An online interactive identification key to common pest species in Aspidiotini (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Diaspididae), version 1.0. ZooKeys. 867:87-96. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.867.34937.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.867.34937

Interpretive Summary: Many species of armored scale insects are globally invasive and damaging to agriculture, causing billions of dollars in economic losses annually. Accurate identification of pest species is important for early detection and prevention of species invasions and has significant impact on pest management initiatives. This article describes a newly available interactive identification key for a major group of armored scale insect pests. The key can be used to identify 155 pest species and, as a digital tool, can be easily adapted to incorporate more species in the future. It is designed to be user-friendly and free to access online. The targeted audience includes an international group of scientists, identifiers at ports-of-entry and government agencies from the local to national level

Technical Abstract: This article describes a newly available online interactive tool for identifying pests from Aspidiotini, a species-rich tribe of armored scale insects. Tribe Aspidiotini includes several polyphagous and specialist pests that are commonly encountered at ports-of-entry to the United States, and many other countries. This tool can be used to identify 155 aspidiotine species that are recognized as minor to major pests or that are potentially emergent pests. This article lists the species and features included along with a description of the development and structure of the key. The interactive key is free to access at http://idtools.org/____.