The scale insects are group of true bugs that vary dramatically in appearance; they can grow beneath wax covers (some shaped like oyster or mussel shells), to shiny pearl-like objects, to creatures covered with mealy wax. Aside from mealybugs, adult female scales are almost always immobile and parasitically and permanently attached to a plant. The group shows high degrees of sexual dimorphism; female scale insects are neotenous and thus retain the immature external morphology even when sexually mature. Adult males usually have wings (depending on their species) but never feed, and die within a day or two.
Species in which males do have wings generally possess only one pair of fully functional wings, and in particular, the forewings. The hind (metathoracic) wings of scale insects are reduced, commonly to the point that they generally are overlooked. In some species the hind wings have hamuli, hooklets, that couple the hind wings to the main wings.
They secrete a waxy coating for defense; this coating causes them to resemble reptilian scales or fish scales, hence their common name. In real life, their reproductive systems vary considerably between species, including three forms of hermaphroditism and at least seven forms of parthenogenesis. They are extremely rare to find in media, and are almost completely unheard of.
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