cochineal insect

American  

noun

1. any of various small red scale insects of the family Dactylopiidae, related to the mealybugs and characterized by an oval segmented body with white waxy plates and short legs and antennae: the source of cochineal.

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Etymology

Origin of cochineal insect

First recorded in 1795–1805

Example Sentences

In Mexico we have the cochineal insect, which is a scale bug that lives on a cactus that grows in Mexico.

From The Insect Folk by Morley, Margaret Warner

It is cultivated for rearing the cochineal insect.

From Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture by Saunders, William

The cactus is cultivated for the production of the cochineal insect.

From Southern Spain by Calvert, A. F. (Albert Frederick)

The cochineal insect of Mexico and Central America is solely nurtured by the native growth of cacti.

From Aztec Land by Ballou, Maturin Murray

The Mexicans wove many kinds of cotton cloth, sometimes using as a dye the rich crimson of the cochineal insect.

From The Story of Extinct Civilizations of the West by Anderson, Robert Edward