#Biodiversity150 number 149 of 150 San Jose Scale

149/150: Not your typical song scales

Animalia: Arthropoda: Insecta: Hemiptera: Sternorrhynncha: Coccoidea: Diaspididae: Quadraspidiotus: Quadraspidiotus perniciosus (Comstock, 1881)

Scale bugs are some pesky critters. Belonging to the order Hemiptera, they have a defining beak like characteristic used to suck out the contents of its prey. The females are typically immobile and have a waxy scale like surface whereas the males have one set of functioning forewings and suppressed hindwings. These insects will not harm you, but they will harm our agricultural crops. A word of advice: don’t use insecticides to kill them because their waxy coatings provide protection. Use systemic pesticides or oils. The San Jose scale is an example pest of our beloved orchard fruits! The pest is known for feasting on fruits such as apples, plums and pears. Living on the blossom and stem sides, the San Jose scale injects toxic fluids leaving blemishes. #Biodiversity150 #Canada150

A male San Jose scale insect. Specimen BIOUG03927-B02 – Point Pelee National Park, Ontario – 12-Sep-2012. Photo Credit: CBG Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics
A group of female scale insects. Photo Credit: Jacopo Werther goo.gl/n3L6Lg

Here’s the barcode sequence information for this species:

Process ID: CNPPJ1172-12

nucleotide sequence

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————ATTTTGATTTTTATTTCCATCATTAATATTAATAATTTTTAATTTATTAATTAATGATAATATTAATACAGGATGAACATTATACCCTCCATTAATTAAT———CAAAATAATTCATCAATTAATTTTATTATTTTTTCTTTACATATAAATGGTATTTCTTCAATTTTGAGATCAATAAATTTTATATTAACAATAATCTATTTAAAATCATTCAATTCAAATTTATTAAATTTAAATTTATTTTGCTGATCTATCATAATCACATCAATATTATTAATTTTATCTTTACCTGTATTAGCTAGTGGAATTACAATAACACTAGCA———GATATTAATTTTAAAACAATATTTTTCAATCCAAGAGGAAATGGTAATCCTATTTTATTCCAACATTTATTT—

amino acid sequence

FWFLFPSLMLMIFNLLINDNINTGWTLYPPLIN—QNNSSINFIIFSLHMNGISSILSSMNFMLTMIYLKSFNSNLLNLNLFCWSIMITSMLLILSLPVLASGITMTLA—DINFKTMFFNPSGNGNPILFQHLF-

Visual representation of DNA barcode sequence for San Jose Scale

Learn more about it’s BIN (Barcode Index Number): BOLD:AAI6713

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