An insect that produces shellac is

🔑 Key Points
→ Laccifer lacca is commonly called the Indian lac insect and belongs to the phylum Arthropoda.
→ It is found in tropical and subtropical regions and is widely exploited in India.
→ It is a type of scale insect, that has a hard covering around its body formed by its own secretions.
→ The females usually produce the bulk of the resin that forms a coating around the twig of the dwelling.
→ The insects live as parasites, feeding on the plant sap.
→ Shellac or lac is the resin secreted by these insects by certain abdominal glands.
→ The secretion starts after settling on a twig and begins hardening around the twig.

🟢 Features of Shellac
→ Colour – Amber to reddish.
→ Texture – Hard, brittle, resinous.
→ Odour – Odourless when cold, characteristic smell on heating.
→ Pharmaceutical use – As a coating for medicine tablets.
→ Uses – As an ingredient for colours, abrasives, sealing wax, glazes, nail polish, hair spray, and furniture polish.

📌 Additional Information
→ Apis indica – The Indian honey bee, widely cultivated (apiculture) to produce honey and bee wax.
→ Bombyx mori – The domesticated silk moth used in silk production (sericulture).
→ Dactylopius coccus – A scale insect that produces carminic acid, used to derive the carmine red dye.