Trabutina is a genus of "blue-green" mealybugs,[1][2] containing five species: T. crassispinosa, T. elastica, T. mannipara, T. serpentina, and T. tenax.[3] This genus of scale insects feeds solely on plants of the genus Tamarix.[3] Its type species is T. mannipara.[4]

Trabutina
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Trabutina

Trabutina insects produce a sweet excretion which is used as a food in Israel and Iraq.[5] Polyrhachis simplex, a species of weaver ants, also feeds on the sugary secretions.[6]

References

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  1. ^ Howard Lester McKenzie (1967). Mealybugs of California: With Taxonomy, Biology, and Control of North American Species (Homoptera, Coccoidea, Pseudococcidae). University of California Press. p. 52. GGKEY:QPJX206YQYC.
  2. ^ Douglas John Williams (1985). Australian mealybugs. British Museum (Natural History). pp. 54, 335. ISBN 978-0-565-00953-3.
  3. ^ a b Danzig, Evelyna M.; Miller, Douglass R. (1996). "A Systematic Revision of the Mealybug Genus Trabutina (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae)" (PDF). Israel Journal of Entomology. 30: 7–46.
  4. ^ Williams, D.J.; Gullan, P. J. (2010). "Family-group names proposed in the family Pseudococcidae (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccoidea)" (PDF). Zootaxa (2400): 66–68.
  5. ^ Jun Mitsuhashi (19 December 2016). Edible Insects of the World. CRC Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-1-315-35088-2.
  6. ^ Degen, A. A.; Gersani, M. (1989). "Environmental effects on activity and honeydew collection by the weaver ant Polyrhachis simplex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) when attending the mealybug Trabutina sp. (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae)". Journal of Zoology. 218 (3): 421–432. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1989.tb02554.x.