What are scale insects?
Q: What are scale insects?
A: Scale insects are small bugs of the order Hemiptera and the superfamily Coccoidea.
Q: How many species of scale insects are there?
A: There are about 8,000 described species of scale insects.
Q: What do scale insects do to plants?
A: Scale insects are ectoparasites of plants. They sit on the outside of plants, stick their mouthparts inside, and suck up the plant sap.
Q: What is the waxy coating that scale insects secrete for?
A: Scale insects secrete a waxy coating for defence.
Q: Why do female scale insects keep their juvenile shape even when sexually mature?
A: Female scale insects keep their juvenile shape even when sexually mature because of a condition known as neoteny.
Q: Do adult male scale insects feed?
A: No, adult males usually have wings but never feed and die within a day or two.
Q: What do crawlers do?
A: The young of scale insects, known as crawlers, lose the use of their legs if they are female and stay put for life. Only the males keep their legs and use them in seeking females for mating.
