Cochineal
Dactylopius ceylonicus (Green, 1896)
Status not recordedinsects
The cochineal (Dactylopius ceylonicus) is a species in the family Dactylopiidae, order Hemiptera. Source checklists list it for 12 countries, including Bangladesh, Bolivia and Brazil.
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Quick facts about the cochineal
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- 12 countriessrc for Countries on record
Where does the cochineal live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The cochineal is listed for 12 countries.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Is the cochineal endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the cochineal classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderHemiptera
- familyDactylopiidae
- genusDactylopius
- SpeciesDactylopius ceylonicus (Green, 1896)
Synonyms Coccus cacti ceylonicus, Coccus ceylonicus, Coccus indicus, Dactylopius argentinus, Dactylopius indicus
Other names and names in other languages (11)
- Cochineal scaleEnglish
- Indian cochinealEnglish
- Wild cochineal insectEnglish
- Echte KochenillesschildlausGerman
- grana finaSpanish
- Cocciniglia del carminioItalian
- cochinilla cultivadaSpanish
- cochinilla del carminSpanish
- cochinilla finaSpanish
- grana cochinillaSpanish
- grana cultivadaSpanish
Relatives of the cochineal
Other species in the same genus Dactylopius.
Cochineal
Dactylopius coccus
Prickly pear cochineal
Dactylopius opuntiae
Cochineal bug
Dactylopius confusus
Tree cholla cochineal
Dactylopius tomentosus
CompareCochineal vs CochinealCochineal vs Prickly pear cochinealCochineal vs Cochineal bugCochineal vs Tree cholla cochineal
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
Where does the cochineal live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the cochineal for 12 countries, including Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Ethiopia and India. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
What kind of animal is the cochineal?
The cochineal (Dactylopius ceylonicus) belongs to the family Dactylopiidae in the order Hemiptera.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Cochineal (Dactylopius ceylonicus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/dactylopius-ceylonicus
“Cochineal (Dactylopius ceylonicus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/dactylopius-ceylonicus.
@misc{dactylopius_ceylonicus_2026,
title = {Cochineal (Dactylopius ceylonicus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/dactylopius-ceylonicus},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}