Abstract

Publisher Summary Only a few species of soft scale insects can be identified by studying their general live appearance, host plant or infestation site, while many cannot even be placed in a genus. Therefore, the majority of species have to be determined by microscopic study of carefully processed, slide-mounted specimens. This chapter discusses the collection and storage of Coccidae and outlines methods that allow preparation of high quality microscope slides, both from fresh and stored material (either in liquid or dry). It concentrates on nymphal and adult female stages, but includes adult males too. Collector can increase his success to collect soft scale insects by looking for intensive ant activity, honeydew droplets and/or sooty mould. On trees, soft scales are commonly present on the branches, leaves, in bark crevices, forks between twigs or other sheltered areas of the plants. For preservation of specimens, it is recommended that the best storage media is acid alcohol, either acetic acid alcohol or lactic acid alcohol. Procedure for preparing permanent microscope slides involves the same five or six stages—that is, initial fixation, maceration, dehydration, staining, clearing, and final dehydration and mounting. The chapter also discusses methodologies for restaining previously mounted material for further study.

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