Potential taxonomic applications of H.P.L.C. analysis of Coccoidea pigments (Homoptera: Sternorhyncha).

High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was applied to separate and identify the constituents of the pigments of scale insects. We concentrated on the following problems: the classification of unsufficiently characterised Near-Eastern Kermesidae (Kermes biblicus and K. palestiniensis); the relationship between K vermilio and K. ballotae, living on the same plant species; and the search for complementary evidence for a suggested identity of Porphyrophora polonica and P. crithmi (Margarodidae). It was shown that the pigment composition of Near-Eastern Kermesidae might be helpful in further taxonomic studies. The differences between the pigments of K. vermilio and K. ballotae contradict their being only forms of the same species. The pigment composition of both Porphyrophora species studied is exactly the same.