JMtNAL OF AIMLllAL RESEARCH 
Yol. XXX Washington, D. C., January 15, 1925 No. 2 
CLASSIFICATION OF SCALE INSECTS OF THE SUBFAMILY 
ORTHEZIINAE 1 
By Harold Morrison 2 
Associate Entomologist, Fruit Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomology, United 
States Department of Agriculture 
INTRODUCTION 
The subfamily Ortheziinae forms a 
well defined group within the family 
Coccidae. The group is of interest 
not only on account of the wide dis¬ 
tribution and fully recognized injurious¬ 
ness of certain of its members, but 
because of the characteristic and even, 
for Coccidae, beautiful superficial 
appearance produced by the usually 
sharply defined, platelike tufts of waxy 
secretion, and the rather unusual 
morphological modifications of the 
body structure. The group has a 
further interest in this country in that, 
so far as its species are known, it is 
predominantly American, presumably 
both in origin and in development. 
Although only one of the species at 
present found within the United 
States, the so-called greenhouse 
Orthezia, has attracted attention as a 
scale pest of major importance, the 
presence of a relatively large number 
of species in the Southwestern States 
and the potentially wide host range 
indicated for the subfamily by the 
known host records, combined with 
the marked increase in agricultural 
development in this southwestern 
region in recent years, at least suggests 
the possibility that the members of the 
subfamily may take on a new economic 
importance if the proper conditions 
for the increase and spread of some of 
the species found there are created 
through the continued expansion of 
agricultural activities in this region. 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
In making use of the illustrations 
certain factors should be taken into 
consideration. Practically all of them, 
both the photographs and the drawings, 
have been made from dried specimens, 
most of which have been preserved for 
years. It is difficult, with many of the 
species, to obtain perfect specimens 
even in life, and the condition after 
years of storage is usually such that 
few, if any, of the specimens shown in 
the photographs are perfect. The same 
and other conditions have affected the 
specimens which have been mounted, 
with the result that hardly any of the 
drawings of the insects as a whole are 
to be regarded as representing the 
structures figured with entire correct¬ 
ness and in precisely coordinated rela¬ 
tion to each other. Thus, while the 
dorsal and ventral spine bands in the 
abdominal region are believed to be 
depicted in fairly accurate fashion, it 
has frequently been quite impossible, 
from the material at hand, to make 
absolutely certain of the size, shape, 
1 Received for publication September 4, 1924; issued April. 1925. 
2 Only the availability of the large collection of Coccidae built up during past years through the 
work of the Bureau of Entomology and through gifts of specimens to it and to the United States 
National Museum by various individuals has made this paper possible. Since beginning the study the 
writer has become indebted to Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, Prof. E. O. Essig, and Prof. G. F. Ferris, in the 
United States, to Mr. Adolph Hempel, of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and to Dr. F. Silvestri of Portici, Italy, for 
the loan or gift of valuable specimens which have greatly aided the work on the group. The writer 
has been able to examine either type or apparently authentic material of 34 of the 40 species accepted as 
valid in this paper, including all but 2 of the species of Orthezia. 
Most of the figures included in this paper to illustrate the general appearance of the body and particularly 
the arrangement of spine bands and clusters in the species discussed have been prepared, under the direc¬ 
tion of the writer, by Miss Sarah Hoke, while Miss M. E. Stehle (Mrs. J. C. Hamlin), Miss A. I. Shoemaker, 
and Miss Leola J. Kruger have each contributed a few. Nearly all of the photographic illustrations have 
been prepared by J. G. Pratt. 
Owing primarily to space limitations it has been found necessary to reduce the bibliographical citations 
under each species to the few required to show the original publication of the description and responsi¬ 
bility for any accepted synonymy. Many references will be found in the Fernald “Catalogue of the 
Coccidae of the World,” a publication almost always accessible to working entomologists, and many 
others may be obtained by consulting the papers of the present-day active workers on the Coccidae. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. 2tXX, No. 2 
Washington, D. C. Jan. 15,1925 
Key No. K-144 
13950—25f-1 
(97) 
