St. John's-wort Scale
Aonidomytilus crookiae Ferris, 1954)
St. John's-wort Scale: https://marylandbiodiversity.org/species/11394
Synonyms
Crookea Scale 
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Source: Wikipedia

Aonidomytilus crookiae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Sternorrhyncha
Family: Diaspididae
Genus: Aonidomytilus
Species:
A. crookiae
Binomial name
Aonidomytilus crookiae
(Ferris, 1954)
Synonyms
  • Aonidomytilus multiglandulatus (Kosztarab, 1963)

Aonidomytilus crookiae is a species of scale insect in the family Diaspididae which are often referred to as "armored scale insects."[1] It is commonly known as "St. John's wort scale".[2] Originally named Nelaspis crookiae by Gordon Floyd Ferris in 1954,[3] the taxon was moved to the genus Aonidomytilus in 1984[4] as the result of a 1979 taxonomic revision of the genus.[5] Aonidomytilus multiglandulatus is a junior synonym.[1]

The scale of the female is approximately 1/10th of an inch (2.3mm) in length, oyster shell shaped, light brown in color turning yellowish white toward the apex, with orange yellow exuviae attached apically.[1] The body of the female insect under the scale is slender and spindle-shaped, with lobed ventral margins.[1] Their eggs are light purple in color.[1]

Aonidomytilus crookiae parasitizes plants in the genus Cistus in the rockrose family Cistaceae and the genus Hypericum in the family Hypericaceae including Hypericum microsepalum and H. prolificum.[6]

The species' geographic distribution includes the U.S. states Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and probably adjacent states.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Kosztarab, M. 1963. The Armored Scale Insects of Ohio (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Diaspididae). Bulletin of the Ohio Biological Survey 2 (n.s.): 120 pp.
  2. ^ Global Biodiversity Information Facility: Aonidomytilus crookiae (Ferris, 1954), https://www.gbif-uat.org/species/110091227, accessed 15 Dec 2017.
  3. ^ Ferris, G.F. 1954. New species of Diaspididae from Florida and the Caribbean Islands (Homoptera; Coccoidea). Contribution No. 88. Microentomology 19: 41-50.
  4. ^ Muse, B.J. Williams, M.L. 1984. Effects of temperature, host plant and aridity on taxonomic characters of armored scale insects (Homoptera: Diaspididae). Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium of Central European Entomofaunistics, Budapest, 15–20 August 1983, 375-377.
  5. ^ Barbara J. Muse. 1979. A Taxonomic Revision of the Armored Scale Insect Genus Aonidomytilus Leonardi (Homoptera: Diaspididae). Ph.D. dissertation, Auburn University, 221 pp.; Auburn University Library, http://catalog.lib.auburn.edu/vufind/Record/190595.
  6. ^ a b ScaleNet: Valid Names Results, Aonidomytilus crookiae (Ferris) 1954 (Diaspididae: Aonidomytilus), http://scalenet.info/catalogue/Aonidomytilus%20crookiae/, accessed 15 Dec 2017.