Normark, B.B. 2004 The strange case of the armored scale insect and its bacteriome.. PLOS Biology 2(3).

Notes: [Internet published: http://www.plosbiology.org/plosonline/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020043] Scale insects and their bacteriomes challenge our notion of what an individual is. Is a scale insect's bacteriome a kind of sibling? Is it half sibling, half self? Is it a sterile slave, under control? Is it an extension of the mother, exerting control? In all other organisms, chimeras are temporary and unstable. How have scale insects suppressed the conflicts that normally tear chimeras apart? The author suggests that to approach such questions, we'll have to revive the empirical study of scale insect bacteriomes, combining approaches from recent studies of aphid bacteriomes and of human pregnancy. Lepidosaphes gloverii, Parlatoria oleae and Quadraspidiotus juglansregiae are the insects discussed.

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