| 胭脂虫 | |
|---|---|
| |
| 左：雌虫；右：雄虫 | |
生物分类法 
| |
| 域： | 真核域 Eukaryota |
| 界： | 动物界 Animalia |
| 门： | 节肢动物门 Arthropoda |
| 纲： | 昆虫纲 Insecta |
| 目： | 半翅目 Hemiptera |
| 科： | 胭蚧科 Dactylopiidae |
| 属： | 胭蚧属 Dactylopius |
| 种： | 胭脂虫 D. coccus |
| 学名（二名法） | |
| Dactylopius coccus Costa, 1835 | |
| 异名 | |
| |
胭脂虫（学名：Dactylopius coccus）原产于美洲。雌虫体内含胭脂红酸，可以用来制造绯红色（胭脂红）染料。胭脂虫是哥伦布交换（Columbian Exchange）之一。在地理大发现时代，在哥伦布发现美洲之初，胭脂虫被引入了欧洲。当运送胭脂虫的西班牙商船被英国或德国的海盗劫掠时，对胭脂虫的价值和用处一无所知的海盗们往往会把货物扔进大海。
目前，胭脂虫被使用于布料染色、食用色素和化妆品。但作为食用色素时（例如常见于草莓果酱），多会加注警语，以防素食者误食及避免过量服用胭脂虫食用色素。
其身长可达5毫米。
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延伸阅读
- Baskes, Jeremy. Indians, Merchants and Markets: A Reinterpretation of the Repartimiento and Spanish-Indian Economic Relations in Colonial Oaxaca, 1750–1821. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 2000. ISBN 0-8047-3512-3.
- Donkin, R. A. Spanish Red: An Ethnogeographical Study of Cochineal and the Opuntia Cactus. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 1977, 67 (5): 1–84. JSTOR 1006195. doi:10.2307/1006195.
- Eiland, Murray L., Jr. & Eiland, Murray L., III. Oriental Carpets. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1998. ISBN 0-8212-2548-0.
- Greenfield, Amy Butler. A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire. New York: Harper Collins Press. 2005. ISBN 0-06-052276-3.
- Hamnett, Brian. Politics and Trade in Southern Mexico, 1750–1821. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1971. ISBN 0-521-07860-1.
- McCreery, David. Rural Guatemala 1760–1940. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1996. ISBN 0-8047-2792-9.
- Schiebinger, L. L. Plants and Empire: Colonial Bioprospecting in the Atlantic World. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 2004. ISBN 0-674-01487-1.
外部链接
- Felter, Harvey Wickes; Lloyd, John Uri. Coccus (U.S.P.)—Cochineal. King's American Dispensatory. 1898 [2005-07-14].
- Direction of the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Coccus, B.P.. The British Pharmaceutical Codex. 1911 [2005-07-14].
- Sayre, Lucius E. Coccus.—Cochineal. A Manual of Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy. 1917 [2005-07-14].
- Zhang, Jane. Is There a Bug in Your Juice? New Food Labels Might Say. The Wall Street Journal. 2006-01-27.
- Greig, J. B. Cochineal extract, carmine, and carminic acid. WHO food additive series 46. [2007-06-02].
- Dutton, LaVerne M. Cochineal: A Bright Red Animal Dye. Master's Thesis for Baylor University. [2010-11-13].