Polish cochineal
Life cycle
Porphyrophora polonica, sometimes referred to as Polish Karminschildlaus or Kermeslaus, is a species in the superfamily of scale insects. The type had in the Middle Ages and in early modern times great importance because it provided one of the valuable red dyes prior to the development of synthetic dyes. Their importance in Europe was somewhat as in the 16th century in the New World the easy to keep Cochenilleschildlaus was discovered.
Life cycle
Around mid-July, the females lay this Schildlausart between 600 and 700 eggs in the soil. The larvae hatch in late August or early September. They come until the following spring to the surface, where they feed for a short time at the low-growing leaves of their food plants. Then you will return to the earth to attach itself to the plant root.
The infestation by these Schildlausart is indicated by small, dark - purple to red bumps on the food plant. In June, the larvae pupate. In late June or early July crawl the females that retain their larval form, the forage plants, where they are fertilized by the little fellows that form wings. The males die shortly after mating.
Way of life
Porphyrophora polonica lives on plants, which stands on sandy soils and dry conditions. The most important food crop is the Enduring ball, but there are additional fodder crops from a total of twenty genera known. Among the food plants include hawkweed, bladder campion, dog - bent grass, Kahles rupturewort and finger herbs.
Porphyrophora polonica was once widespread in the Palaearctic and was economically used in a large part of Eurasia. The use of space ranged from France and England to China. However, the greatest economic importance had this scale insect in Central Europe. Excessive use and habitat change has largely brought the scale insect to disappear. Since 1994, she is on the Ukrainian Red List of Threatened Species. In Poland, the scale insect was still common in the 1960s. At present, insufficient data are available to determine their privileged nature in Poland.
Economic use
Already the Slavs of antiquity were able to win red dye from the larvae of cochineal. Early analytical evidence for the use of this dye are from Northern Europe ( Veien / Norway -. Fourth century AD ) and from the Altai region in southern Siberia ( Pazyryk graves - 500-400 BC). Ago. The work was time consuming and took only low yields. Each plant yielded only about 40 of these insects. Why had thousands of plants dug, cleaned, and the insects are harvested before a tradable quantity was won. However, in Europe there were only very few red dyes available, the color was a much sought after commodity. The Scale also yielded a very brilliant red, so that many dyers they particularly appreciated. Importance they lost only when from South America increasingly Cochenilleschildläuse were imported.
Synonyms
The species has been described under a number of synonyms. These include:
- Coccus polonicus Linnaeus, 1758
- Coccus radicum Beckmann, 1790
- Coccionella polonica Hahnemann, 1793
- Porphyrophora frischii Brandt, 1835
- Porphyrophora fritchii Signoret, 1869
- Margarodes polonicus Cockerell, 1902