Kermes_(insect)
Kermes (insect)
Genus of true bugs
Kermes is a genus of scale insects in the order Hemiptera. They feed on the sap of oaks; the females produce a red dye, also called "kermes", that is the source of natural crimson.[1] The word "kermes" is derived from Turkish qirmiz or kirmizi (قرمز), "crimson" (both the colour and the dyestuff),[2] itself deriving from Persian *کرمست (*kermest) via Proto-Indo-Iranian *kŕ̥miš, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷŕ̥mis (“worm”).[3]
There are some 20 species,[4] including:
- Kermes bacciformis Leonardi, 1908
- Kermes corticalis (Nassonov, 1908)
- Kermes echinatus (Balachowsky, 1953)
- Kermes gibbosus Signoret, 1875
- Kermes ilicis (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Kermes roboris (Fourcroy, 1785)
- Kermes vermilio Planchon, 1864