Lily Deeter works on scale insects, tiny creatures that many people aren’t familiar with, or only see as a pest. But once you get to know them, you’ll be hooked. Not only do they have fascinating morphology, physical characteristics that at times can seem otherworldly, but with a little practice you’ll be looking for them everywhere. “I don't think that the insect is just hanging out where entomologists tend to hang out,” Lily explains; the locations she found her new species include her neighborhood park, a brewery, at an entomology conference, and right outside her office. “You just kind of had to look somewhere just a little bit outside of the box.”
Lily’s fascination with scale insects is apparent as she shares their amazing biology, including some unexpected genetics, and lots more about these tiny creatures. And of course she introduces us to her new species “Acanthococcus orzo,” named after the pasta.
Lily Deeter’s paper “A new species of grass-infesting felt scale (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha:
Eriococcidae), with descriptions of all life stages and a key to the adult female
Acanthococcus Signoret of Florida, U.S.A.” is in volume 5717 of Zootaxa.
It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5717.2.3
A transcript of this episode can be found here: Lily Deeter - Transcript
New Species: Acanthococcus orzo
Episode image credit: Erin Powell
Browse ScaleNet: https://scalenet.info/
Scale insects and gecko conservation: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26198719
Beneficial scale insects: https://doi.org/10.1079/9781800620643.0001
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