Saissetia oleae

Saissetia oleae (syn. Coccus oleae) is a scale insect in the family Coccidae. It is considered one of the three main phytophagous parasites of the olive tree (Olea europaea), together with the olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae) and the olive moth (Prays oleae). Although it is a common parasite which occurs most often in olive trees, it is a polyphagous species, also attacking (but less frequently) citrus trees as well as various ornamental shrubs such as oleanders, pittosporums and euonymus. One of the first scientists who studied the insect in a scientific and modern way was Italian naturalist Giuseppe Maria Giovene. He wrote a publication entitled Descrizione e storia della cocciniglia dell'ulivo (1807) in which he answered Giovanni Presta who had denied the existence of the insect in the Apulian provinces of Bari and Otranto. Giovene showed that the insect was common in the above regions as well, even though it occurred less often. Moreover, Giovene discovered the male of the insect, which at that time wasn't known in Europe. In the Dictionary of Natural history of Paris (1816) (French: Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, appliquée aux arts, à l'agriculture, à l'économie rurale et domestique, à la médecine, etc.) it was written that 'the male is not known' (French: Le mâle n'est pas connu).