Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds - Mini Fact Sheet EditionCitrus mussel scale (340)
Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds - Mini Fact Sheet EditionCitrus mussel scale (340)
Summary
- Worldwide distribution. Citrus species. Potentially severe scale, sucking sap, causing leaf drop, dieback, and unsightly fruit.
- Mussel shaped, purplish-brown, pale at narrow end; eggs laid under a cover (or "armour"); "crawlers" (nymphs) hatch and disperse, settle, moult, and females grow up to 3 mm long. Males have wings, and short-lived.
- Spread by crawlers that walk, or are carried by wind, vehicles, animals, birds, and clothes, and trade in plants.
- Natural enemies: wasp parasitoid (Aphytis lepidosaphes).
- Cultural control: check nursery stock free from scale; if present, prune, and spray with insecticide (see below); in field, use Gliricida windbreaks to reduce crawlers carried by wind; provide adequate nutrition.
- Chemical control: use lime sulphur or wettable sulphur, leaving 30 days if also spraying oils (READ INSTRUCTIONS); alternatively, spot-spray infestations using soap, horticultural or white oils (see Fact Sheet no. 56); avoid malathion and synthetic pyrethroids - they will kill natural enemies.
Common Name
Citrus mussel scale; purple scale
Scientific Name
Lepidosaphes beckii
AUTHOR Grahame Jackson
1Information from Swaine G (1971) Agricultural Zoology in Fiji. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. London; and CABI (2008) Lepidosaphes beckii (purple scale) Crop Protection Compendium (www.cabi.org/cpc); and from Citrus Research International Scales: Mussel Scales. (https://www.citrusres.com/system/files/documents/production-guidelines/Ch%203-11-2%20Mussel%20scales%20-%20Apr%202003.pdf). Photo 1 United States National Collection of Scale Insects Photographs, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org. Photo 2 MAF Plant Health & Environment Laboratory (2011) Purple Scale (Lepidiosaphes beckii) PaDIL - (https://www.padil.gov.au).
Produced with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research under project PC/2010/090: Strengthening integrated crop management research in the Pacific Islands in support of sustainable intensification of high-value crop production, implemented by the University of Queensland and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.
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