- Worldwide distribution. On bele, chilli, capsicum, cassava, passionfruit, and paper mulberry (Broussonetia sp.). An important pest.
- Scale with tube-like mouthparts sucking sap from stems. Covered by a protective shell, the 'armour': round in females, white and long in males.
- Eggs hatch as 'crawlers' that walk or are spread by wind. Both sexes settle down, feed and produce the armour, but males become winged, tiny, mosquito-like insects without mouths that mate and then die.
- Natural enemies: many predators, and parasitoid wasps.
- Cultural control: scale-free cuttings; avoid planting near old crop; collect and burn infested stems during growth and after harvest.
- Chemical control: use soap, white or horticultural oils with or without malathion. Malathion likely to kill natural enemies.
