A genus of scale insects that includes the cochineal insect, which produces a bright red dye used historically in textiles and art.
From Greek daktylos (finger) + pous (foot/leg). Named because of the finger-like appearance of the insect's appendages.
Dactylopius (cochineal) insects were so valuable that Spanish conquistadors literally built an empire partly on trading the red dye these finger-like bugs produced—worth more than gold per ounce at the time.
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