- 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.
