PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 98(1), 1996, pp. 68-86 CHECKLIST OF THE SCALE INSECTS (COCCOIDEA: HOMOPTERA) OF MEXICO Douglass R. Miller Systematic Entomology Laboratory, PSI, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Dept. Agriculture, Building 046, BARC-W, Beltsville, MD 20705, U.S.A. Abstract. — The checklist includes 515 species-group names including 5 Aclerdidae, 11 Asterolecaniidae, 3 Cerococcidae, 63 Coccidae, 2 Conchaspididae, 4 Dactylopiidae, 224 Diaspididae, 15 Eriococcidae, 3 Halimococcidae, 4 Kermesidae, 5 Lecanodiaspididae, 20 Margarodidae, 16 Ortheziidae, 132 Pseudococcidae, and 8 Tachardiidae. Key Words: Scale insect, Coccoidea, scale, mealybug, armored scale, soft scale, system-atics, taxonomy, Mexico Information on the scale insects of Mex-ico is scattered throughout the literature and often is found in publications that are not obvious sources of data on the Mexican Coccoidea. The purpose of this publication is to compile a checklist of the species known to occur in Mexico from all litera-ture sources so that this information can be used for two additional projects. (1) An as-sessment of Mexican biodiversity that is be-ing edited by four Mexican scientists enti-tled "Biodiversity, taxonomy and biogeog-raphy of Mexican arthropods: towards a synthesis"; (2) A database that is being developed by the Systematic Entomology Laboratory and the Entomological Collec-tions Network called the "Biosystematic Information on Terrestrial Arthropods" which initally will develop a checklist of the arthropods of North America. State re-cords within Mexico have been compiled either from the literature or from specimens deposited in the United States National Mu-seum of Natural History, Beltsville, Mary-land. In many instances species are known only from specimens taken at US ports-of-entry, and specific locality information is unknown. Two species that I would expect to be common in Mexico each could be docu-mented by only a single specimen taken at a United States port-of-entry with no spe-cific locality information. These species have not been included in the list, because of insufficient data. They are Pseudaula-caspis cockerelli (Cooley) and P. pentago-na (Targioni Tozzetti). This checklist provides the valid name for each taxon known to occur in Mexico, a primary reference for each record, state records within Mexico, and an abbreviated synopsis of world distribution. Species ep-ithets are given in alphabetical order within the genus followed by the author, a number that refers to a bibliographic reference, and locality information. United States Postal Service abbreviations are used for records from states in the U.S. Results The list includes 15 famihes, 154 genera, and 515 species group names. Family rep-resentation is as follows: Aclerdidae 1 ge-nus, 5 species; Asterolecaniidae 2 genera, 1 1 species; Cerococcidae 1 genus, 3 spe-cies; Coccidae 25 genera, 63 species; Con-
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