Vahedi, H.A., & Hodgson, C.J. 2007 Some species of the hypogeal scale insect Porphyrophora Brandt (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccoidea: Margarodidae) from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. . Systematics and Biodiversity 5(1): 23-122

Notes: Porphyrophora is one of several hypogeal genera in the scale insect family Margarodidae (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccoidea). Historically,it has been of great economic importance as a source of carmine dye but has been superseded by artificial aniline dyes. Some Porphyrophora species are currently important crop pests, particularly in western Asia. However, adult female Porphyrophora are all remarkably uniform in structure and are dificult to identify. The present paper redescribes the adult females of 24 species of Porphyrophora from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and describes 3 new species (P. chelodonta Vahedi, P. jakubskii Vahedi and P. jashenkoi Vahedi). A key is provided to separate the species of Porphyrophora covered here. It is considered that P. cynodontis (Archangelskaia) is probably a synonym of P. hamelii Brandt although this synonymy is not being formally introduced here.