Beesoniidae is a family of
scale insects commonly known as beesoniids. They typically cause galls on their plant
hosts
A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it.
Host may also refer to:
Places
*Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County
People
*Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman
*Michel Host ( ...
. Members of this family mostly come from southern Asia.
[UDSA Agricultural Research Service]
The family name comes from the type genus ''
Beesonia'' which is named after the entomologist
C.F.C. Beeson who obtained the specimens from which they were described and named.
Host species
In the Old World, this members of this family are found on oaks in the genus ''
Quercus
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ...
'' and trees in the genera ''
Shorea
Fruit of a ''Shorea'' species
''Shorea'' is a genus of about 196 species of mainly rainforest trees in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The genus is named after Sir John Shore, the governor-general of the British East India Company, 1793–1798. T ...
'' and ''
Dipterocarpus
'' D. retusus'' in Köhler
''Dipterocarpus'' is a genus of flowering plants and the type genus of family Dipterocarpaceae.
''Dipterocarpus'' is the third-largest and most diverse genus among the Dipterocarpaceae. The species are well known for ...
'' in the family
Dipterocarpaceae. The New World species are
parasites
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...
of
palm
Palm most commonly refers to:
* Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand
* Palm plants, of family Arecaceae
**List of Arecaceae genera
* Several other plants known as "palm"
Palm or Palms may also refer to:
Music
* Palm (ba ...
s.
[
]
Life cycle
Most scales in this family have four female instar
An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ...
s and five male instars. Members of the genus ''Gallacoccus'' have only three female instars however. The females form galls which are often quite ornate. In some species the first instars seem to act as soldiers and attempt to guard the gall. Adult males appear to develop inside the female galls.[
]
Genera
* '' Beesonia''
References
Scale insects
Hemiptera families
Neococcoids
{{Coccoidea-stub