Family KERRIIDAE

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• Kerriidae Lindinger, L. 1937. Verzeichnis der Schildläus-Gattungen. (Homoptera - Coccoidea Handlirsch, 1903). Entomologisches Jahrbuch 46: 178-198.

  Type genus:

   Kerria Targioni Tozzetti, 1884.
• Tachardiidae Green, E.E. 1896. The Coccidae of Ceylon. London : Dulau & Co. Vol. 1 103 pp. [17] (as Tachardiinae).

  Type genus:

   Tachardia Blanchard, 1886 [objective synonym of Kerria Targioni Tozzetti, 1884].
• Lacciferidae Cockerell, T.D.A. 1924. The name of the lac insects. Psyche (Cambridge) 31: 47-48 [47].

  Type genus:

   Lacifer Oken, 1815 [unavailable name, contained in a work with inconsistent binomial nomenclature].

Introduction

The Kerriidae are distributed throughout the tropics with extensions into temperate areas. The family contains the well known lac insect of commerce, Kerria lacca, reared for its resinous secretions used for the production of shellac and sealing wax. The family has previously been referred to as the Tachardiidae however the type genus Tachardia Blanchard, 1886 is an objective synonym of Kerria Targioni Tozzetti, 1884 meaning that Kerriidae, introduced by Lindinger (1937), is the most appropriate family group name. See Ben-Dov & Lit (1998) and Ben-Dov (2006) for further details

The described Australian fauna comprises three genera and seven species with an additional species introduced to Christmas Island.

General References

Ben-Dov, Y. 2006. A Systematic Catalogue of Eight Scale Insect Families (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) of the World. Amsterdam : Elsevier pp. i-xix, 1-368. [247]

Ben-Dov, Y. & Lit, I.L. 1998. Stabilizing Kerriidae as the family-group name of the lac insects (Hem., Coccoidea). Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France 103(5): 455-456

Williams, D.J. 1991. Superfamily Coccoidea. pp. 457–464 in, Chapter 30. Hemiptera (Bugs, leafhoppers, cicadas, aphids, scale insects etc.). pp. 429-509 in CSIRO (ed.). The Insects of Australia. A textbook for students and research workers. Melbourne : Melbourne University Press Vol. 1 xiii 542 pp.

History of changes