Florida Armored Scale Insects

Florida Armored Scale Insects is the third volume of an irregularly appearing publication Arthropods of Florida and Neighboring Land Areas, relating to the insects and other arthropods. Neighboring land areas include the southeastern United States, Bahama Islands, the West Indies, and land areas in and near the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Primary emphasis is on taxonomy, ecology, biology, and zoogeography. Few if any other groups of insects are of more economic importance to Florida fruit crops, ornamental plants, and forest and shade trees than are the scale insects. No other groups of insects are more important to Florida citrus. Their control is difficult, requiring constant vigilance, and extremely expensive. Yet literature dealing with these insects is surprisingly scattered and limited. Identification of particular species, which may be important to their control, is often difficult. The scale insects form a large group which contains forms that are minute and highly specialized. Scale insects occur on practically all kinds of plants both wild and cultivated. Many wild plants serve as reservoirs for species which are pests of cultivated plants; others serve as reservoirs for species which are parasites or predators of these pest species.