What's New
What's New
February, 2012
Recent phylogenetic analyses based on nucleotide sequence data have shown that the genus Puto does not belong to the Pseudococcidae (Cook et al., 2002; Gullan & Cook, 2007; Hardy et al., 2008) but should be a separate family, Putoidae Beardsley, 1969. Therefore, Putoidae is now treated separately in ScaleNet.
September, 2011
The ScaleNet web site was initiated in 1995 and first placed on the web in 1997, soon becoming a most useful and appreciated tool. Since then the site has been continuously updated by the Israeli team (Yair Ben-Dov, Yulia Bir and Victoria German) and by the US team (Dug Miller, Maren Gimpel, Alessandra Rung and Barbara Denno).
The Bibliography component of ScaleNet was originally compiled by Diane Houston and was updated from 1995 to 2005 by Karen Veilleux (Blacksburg, Virginia). From 2005 to March 2011 this section of ScaleNet was supplemented and updated by Yair Ben-Dov.
Towards the end of 2010 Yair finalized the splitting of Margarodidae sensu lato into 11 families according to the modern classification of this group.
The Coccoidea superfamily is currently divided into 47 families. Yair Ben-Dov and his team were responsible for updating 29 families and half of the family Diaspididae, as listed here: Aclerdidae, Arnoldidae, Asterolecaniidae, Beesoniidae, Callipappidae, Carayonemidae, Coccidae, Coelostomidiidae, Conchaspididae, Dactylopiidae, Diaspididae (Aspidiotinae and Odonaspidinae), Grohnidae, Hammanococcidae, Kerriidae, Kuwaniidae, Lebanococcidae, Lecanodiaspididae, Lithuanicoccidae, Marchalinidae, Margarodidae, Matsucoccidae, Monophlebidae, Pennygullanidae, Pityococcidae, Pseudococcidae, Serafinidae, Steingeliidae, Stigmacoccidae, Weitschatidae and Xylococcidae.
Because of some vision problems Yair Ben-Dov was reluctantly obliged to quit his major input into the updating and improvement of ScaleNet, and the mission of ScaleNet is now in the hands of Dug Miller and Barbara Denno. Yair personally trusts and wishes that both of them will proceed in the task of updating ScaleNet for the benefit of all.
Yair Ben-Dov
Yair Ben-Dov is one of the founders of ScaleNet and he has organized and entered the majority of the information that is found on this website. Yair has recently had problems with his vision and, therefore, he has discontinued his significant data input for ScaleNet. We all owe him a major debt of gratitude for his efforts for the good of the scientific community. About two and a half years ago, Barbara Denno volunteered to take over data entry from the American side of the project and has served as the webmaster since that time. When Yair found it necessary to discontinue his participation, Barbara took over the data entry for all of the scale insect families and the reference data. Although dug Miller assists by answering Barbara's questions, Barbara Denno's efforts comprise 99% of the continued development of ScaleNet. We owe her a major debt of gratitude also.
Dug Miller
July 26, 2010
The family Margarodidae sensu lato has been divided into 11 families: Calipappidae, Coelostomidiidae, Kuwaniidae, Margarodidae, Marchaliniidae, Matsucoccidae, Monophlebidae, Pityococcidae, Steingeliidae, Stigmacoccidae and Xylococcidae. This emendation was introduced to comply with the modern classification of the group, based on Morrison’s (1927) subfamilies concept, on Koteja’s (1974. 1996. 1998. 2000) and on Hodgson & Foldi’s (2006) classification.
December 17, 2008
It has been nearly 2 years since ScaleNet was updated. During that time Dug Miller and Bob Carlson (web master) have retired and there have been no updates on line. Yair Ben-Dov has continued to diligently update the References database and the 18 families that are under his responsibility within the BASIS database . Dug Miller has entered some of the information that has accumulated in his families. In the last couple of months, Barbara Denno has volunteered to do data entry for the families that are the responsibility of the Americans and will begin moving the files on to the ScaleNet server so that they are available to all. To test this scenario, Bob Carlson has come to the laboratory to show Barbara how to update ScaleNet from the BASIS database. The test family is the Eriococcidae which includes some, but not all, of the recent literature. If this is successful [and it is] she will continue to update ScaleNet when the data are available. With the expertise of Barbara Denno, who has a degree in computer science, and the help of Bob Carlson, we should have ScaleNet up to speed.
The last publication from the initial round of data entry in ScaleNet is the second half of the Diaspididae which was completed by Maren Gimpel and Dug Miller in collaboration with Y. Ben-Dov, G. A. P. Gibson, & A. Rung. It will be available in early 2009 and is titled “A systematic catalog of the armored scale subfamilies Diaspidinae, Leucaspidinae, and Ulucoccinae of the World. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute. Vol 81 (nos. 1 & 2), 1312 pp. When it is printed it will be available from AEI by email at publications@aei.cfcoxmail.com or by mail to Dr David Wahl, American Entomological Institute, 3005 SW 56th Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32608-5047 USA.
January 15, 2005
It has been awhile since we updated this section. When Maren Gimpel was working on the project she was very methodical about keeping this section up-to-date, but Alessandra Rung and I have been concentrating on the development of some expert systems and some of the ScaleNet needs have been given a lower priority. Since the last message we have received a grant from GBIF to finish the first round of data entry in ScaleNet. This should be done in the next couple of months. Yair Ben-Dov has been updating many of his families and we have been up dating our data on a quarterly basis. We hope to add the Margarodidae and Asterolecaniidae soon. These will be on line when they have been published.
We have nearly finished the expert system on scale families. It can be accessed through ScaleNet or at
http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/ScaleKeys/lcd/html/index.html.
The most recent publication resulting from the ScaleNet initiative is A Systematic catalogue of the Diaspididae (armoured scale insects) of the world, subfamilies Aspidiotinae, Comstockiellinae and Odonaspidinae by Y. Ben-Dov and V. German 2003. It is available from Intercept Ltd of Andover, U.K. This is the second in a series of catalogues resulting from ScaleNet. It is available online or the publisher can be reached as follows:
Intercept Ltd.
Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers and Booksellers
P.O. Box 716, Andover, Hampshire SP10 1YG, U.K.
Tel: +44 (0) 1264 334748
Fax: +44 (0) 1264 334058
http://www.intercept.co.uk
Volumes that will be coming out in the next few months are the Margarodidae, the Asterolecaniidae, a volume on the Cerococcidae, Halimococcidae, Kermesidae, Micrococcidae, Ortheziidae, Phenacoleachiidae, Phoenicococcidae, and Stictococcidae, and the other half of the armored scales.
February 11, 2003
Gary Miller for the past three months has been helping with new data input into the system. We have been learning the various idiosyncrasies of BASIS and ScaleNet. The Israeli team is planning to complete the retrospective data entry for their families within the next year that will finish the first round of data entry for ScaleNet.
We have written two grant proposals to complete the retrospective data entry process and to add character information and images for the first time.
November 6, 2002
The most troublesome news for ScaleNet is that Maren Gimpel has gone to bigger and better things. She was the primary force behind ScaleNet at the Beltsville location and after three months of working without her, SHE IS GREATLY MISSED!
A contract with Jane Lemmer (now Laroussi) from Carson & Associates has just been completed. The work completed included documentation activities that have made life easier without Maren. Some items that might be noticeable in using the query system are: 1) the option not to show detail in the Region Query (i.e., if you want a synoptic list of the species that occur in Australia, you can select the "no" button for "show all subunit records" and you will receive only one record for each species not all of the records for each state (this option is available if you select the "yes' button); 2) a temporary warning that certain queries may take a long time to complete; 3) the cursor is automatically placed in the first field of a query; 4) the valid name query has been altered to more effectively deal with names in the categories of incertae sedis, nomen nudum that is unplaced, taxon removed from a family, and unclassified species that have no valid genus in the family where they currently are placed.
August 16, 2002
Ask and you shall receive! Now, by popular demand! Approximately half of the Diaspididae are now on line. This family was split by the ScaleNet teams: Bet Dagen is working on the second half of the Borchsenius 1966 catalaogue (subfamilies Aspidiotinae and Odonaspidinae) and Beltsville has completed the first half of the catalogue (subfamilies Diaspidinae and Leucaspidinae). PLEASE NOTE: All queries involving species of Diaspididae must be undertaken with caution, due to the incomplete data. If you receive no results, you may be searching for an insect that is in the one of the subfamilies not yet online. Also, query results such as "Scales in a Region" or "Scales on a host" will not be comprehensive.
In addition to the new Diaspididae data, we have updated the Orthezidae and also the references which now number over 16,660!
July 3, 2002
Data has been updated for the Eriococcidae, Cerococcidae, Kermesidae, Phoenicococcidae and Orthezidae as well as the reference file. We now have almost 16,500 references on file! Updates to some additional families and to a few pages of this site will be made later this month. As always, please alert us to any problems or errors you see on ScaleNet.
May 31, 2002
A new section has been added to ScaleNet and its something we think is a great resource. On the Background Information page under the heading "General Information" is a link called Location of Type Material. This page contains information on the whereabouts of type material of as many authors as possible. Select the appropriate link based on the last name of the author in question. Find your author and see which institutions hold his type material. Also on this page are several great resources such as a link to a search engine of insect collections of the world run by the Bishop Musuem, a list of some published inventories of some institutions and a list of all museums/collections containing scale insect type material. As always, any corrections or additions to the information would be greatly appreciated.
Small changes have been made to the Links page as well as to the Background information page. A full update of ScaleNet is planned for late June, 2002.
April 15, 2002
The biographies of scale insect workers have been updated.
April 5, 2002
Have updated the Aclerdidae and Kerridae. Our next major update of family data will be in late June.
March 25, 2002
Small change made to Classification of Scale Insects to reflect updated numbers of Diaspididae.
Updated versions of Cerococcidae, Eriococcidae, Halimococcidae, Kermesidae, Micrococcidae, Orthezidae, Phenacoleachidae, Phoenicococcidae and Stictococcidae have been placed online. Also, updated references now include over 16,200 entries. Thanks to Karen Veilleux for tireless work on this aspect of ScaleNet! Updated versions of some additional families expected within the month.
A Systematic catalogue of the Eriococcidae (felt scales) (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) of the world is still available from Intercept Ltd of Andover, U.K. We intend for this to be the first in a series of hard-copy catalogues resulting from ScaleNet. It is available online or the publisher can be reached as follows:
Intercept Ltd.
Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers and Booksellers
P.O. Box 716, Andover, Hampshire SP10 1YG, U.K.
Tel: +44 (0) 1264 334748
Fax: +44 (0) 1264 334058
http://www.intercept.co.uk
What's New -- 2001
What's New -- 2000
What's New -- 1999
What's New -- 1998
What's New -- 1997