Hiding in plain sight: Cryptic enemies are found on cochineal (Hemiptera: Dactylopiidae), a scale insect of economic and cultural significance.

Cochineal is the common name for cactus-feeding scale insects in the Dactylopiidae. These ruby-red insects include the domesticated dye insect . and congeners have been introduced around the world, some accidentally, to become pests of prickly pear cactus species (), and some intentionally, for dye production or biological control of pest In the northern Sonoran Desert (Tucson, AZ, USA), we studied the enemy complex of and on and characterized two cryptic enemies, a coccinellid beetle predator and a parasitoid wasp.