RESEARCH ARTICLE Species delimitation in asexual insects of economic importance: The case of black scale (Parasaissetia nigra), a cosmopolitan parthenogenetic pest scale insect Yen-Po Lin1,2,3*, Robert D. Edwards4, Takumasa Kondo5, Thomas L. Semple3, Lyn G. Cook2 a1111111111 1 College of Life Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China, 2 School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 3 Research School of Biology, Division of a1111111111 Evolution, Ecology and Genetics, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, a1111111111 Australia, 4 Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington a1111111111 DC, United States of America, 5 CorporacioÂn Colombiana de InvestigacioÂn Agropecuaria (CORPOICA), a1111111111 Centro de InvestigacioÂn Palmira, Valle del Cauca, Colombia *
[email protected] OPEN ACCESS Abstract Citation: Lin Y-P, Edwards RD, Kondo T, Semple TL, Cook LG (2017) Species delimitation in asexual Asexual lineages provide a challenge to species delimitation because species concepts insects of economic importance: The case of black either have little biological meaning for them or are arbitrary, since every individual is mono- scale (Parasaissetia nigra), a cosmopolitan phyletic and reproductively isolated from all other individuals. However, recognition and parthenogenetic pest scale insect. PLoS ONE 12 naming of asexual species is important to conservation and economic applications. Some (5): e0175889. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0175889 scale insects are widespread and polyphagous pests of plants, and several species have been found to comprise cryptic species complexes. Parasaissetia nigra (Nietner, 1861) Editor: Wolfgang Arthofer, University of Innsbruck, AUSTRIA (Hemiptera: Coccidae) is a parthenogenetic, cosmopolitan and polyphagous pest that feeds on plant species from more than 80 families.