Coccidae
A family of several hundred species in the Hemiptera, infraorder Coccomorpha, superfamily Coccoidea, usually known as soft or wax scales. All species live on and feed from plants and excrete much honeydew which is colonized by dark sootymold. The females have a flat body that may become convex at maturity, and is covered by a waxy integument. The family contains important pests like Ceroplastes floridensis, Coccus hesperidum, Pulvinaria spp. and Saissetia oleae.
References
Ben-Dov Y. 2011-2012. The scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) of Israel — checklist, host plants, zoogeographical considerations and annotations on species. Israel Journal of Entomology 41–42: 21–48.
Ben-Dov, Y. and Hodgson, C.J. (eds) 1997. Soft Scale Insects – Their Biology, Natural Enemies and Control, Parts I and II. Elsevier Science B.V. Amsterdam.
Camacho, E.R. and Chong, J.H. 2015. General Biology and Current Management Approaches of Soft Scale Pests (Hemiptera: Coccidae). Journal of Integrated Pest Management 6: 1-22.
Diab, N., Asslan, L. and Basheer, A.M. 2014. Parasitoids of the soft scale insects (Homoptera: Coccidae) in fruit orchards at al Qunaetera, Syria. Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control 24 341-346.
Hodgson, C.J. 1994. The Scale Insect Family Coccidae; an Indentification Manual to Genera. CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon, U.K., pp.639.
Kapranas, A. and Tena, A. 2015. Encyrtid parasitoids of soft scale insects: biology, behavior, and their use in biological control. Annual Review of Entomology 60: 195-211.