Abstract
Lac insects are phytosuccivorous and prefer certain species of plants called lac hosts. They remain attached to the host plant throughout their life, except for crawler and adult male stages. Due to their unique biology, host preference and dispersal mechanisms, lac insects are expected to differentiate locally, forming geographic and host races without adequate morphological differentiation. Phloem sap is the sole source of nutrition for the lac insect. The factors governing the selection of only a few host taxa by the lac insect in general and preference of specific host species by different lac insect strains and species needed to be investigated. Detailed studies aimed at detection, identification and characterization of endosymbionts are desirable as they are likely to play an important role in host metabolism, reproduction as well as biosynthesis of the lac constituents. An understanding of lac insect biodiversity and insect-host plant relationship required for lac production is far from complete without the knowledge on the above aspects. Therefore, a study was undertaken for the better understanding of lac insect biodiversity and lac insect-host plant interaction. The characterization parameters, namely morphology, karyology, biochemical and molecular profiles, variations in the resin and dye produced by these insects were studied and are discussed in this chapter.
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