Pacific Pests, Pathogens and Weeds

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Summary

• 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.