General: Cochineal (Dactylopius spp.) are "scale insects," a group of very small bugs with mouthparts modified into a beak capable of piercing plants and sucking fluids. Adult males have wings and fly about mating with flightless females. Females live on pricklypear cactus (Opuntia spp.), and around Las Vegas, seem to prefer Tulip Pricklypear. Females lay eggs that hatch to produce flightless larvae. The females and larvae create a protective silk-like waxy material that look like tufts of cotton, under which they safely feed on the cactus.

Cochineal insects are recognized by their cottony covering, but if removed, they have rotund bodies with several ring-like structures around the body. Crushing them reveals red carminic acid.

As an added defense against predation, cochineal females and larvae produce a bad-tasting chemical -- carminic acid, which is reddish. Since at least the 15th century, Central American people used a manufacturing process to convert carminic acid to carmine dye, which is then used to color fabrics. See Wikipedia article.

Taxonomy: Class Insecta (Insects), Order Hemiptera (True Bugs), Suborder Sternorrhyncha (Plant-parasitic Hemipterans), Superfamily Coccoidea, Family Dactylopiidae (Cochineal).