SCALE INSECT

any member of several families of the insect order Homoptera. The females are wingless, with reduced legs and antennae; the males have one pair of delicate wings, well-developed legs and antennae, and no mouthparts. The body is covered by a protective waxy shell, often resembling scales or cottony cushions, that gives these insects their common name. The eggs are always protected; they are either embedded in a mass of waxy filaments or sheltered beneath the female's body or the scale she secretes. Each species of scale insect is restricted in its range of host plants. Scale insects may attack roots, bark, leaves, twigs, or fruits of plants. Serious plant pests are the San Jose scale, the oystershell scale, the scurfy scale, and the purple and red scale of citrus. Other speciesincluding the cochineal insect, the lac insect, and the ground pearlshave some commercial value. See Chinese wax; cottony-cushion scale; ground pearl; oystershell scale; San Jose scale; scurfy scale.