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Cochineal Scale Bugs
Dactylopius
Dactylopius is a genus of insects in the superfamily Coccoidea, the scale insects. It is the only genus in the family Dactylopiidae. These insects are known commonly as cochineals, a name that also specifically refers to the best-known species, the cochineal (Dactylopius coccus). The cochineal is an insect of economic and historical importance as a main source of the red dye carmine. It has reportedly been used for this purpose in the Americas since the 10th...
6 branches of this genus, most-observed first

Cactus Scattered Cochineal
speciesDactylopius opuntiae

American cochineal bug
speciesDactylopius confusus

true cochineal bug
speciesDactylopius coccus

Tree Cholla Cochineal
speciesDactylopius tomentosus

Dactylopius austrinus
speciesDactylopius austrinus

Indian Cochineal
speciesDactylopius ceylonicus
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Dactylopius in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 202091.