Species: Ferrisia malvastra (McDaniel) - Catalog

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Common name: None Field Characters: Body elongate oval; dark gray; legs dark brown; body covered by white mealy wax, with 2 submedial longitudinal bare areas on dorsum; dorsal ovisac absent, a few filamentous strands on venter, forming a pad; with 1 pair of conspicuous lateral wax filaments, about one half as long as body. Occurring on all parts of plant, usually in protected area. Usually ovoviviparous. With numerous thin crystalline rods protruding from dorsum.
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Validation characters: Setae associated with ferrisia-like tubular ducts not incorporated in rim; ventral multiloculars restricted to posterior 2 or 3 abdominal segments, when 3, with less than 5 multilocular pores on segment VI; 1 pair of cerarii; ferrisia-like rim around large tubular ducts. Comparison: Ferrisia malvastra is most similar to F. virgata and can be distinguished by the absence of multilocular pores on segment VI (occasionally with less than 5) and by having a small rim around the ferrisia-like tubular ducts that does not incorporate the associated setae. Ferrisia virgata has at least 8 ventral multilocular pores on segment VI and has a large rim around the ferrisia-like tubular ducts that incorporates the associated setae. U.S. quarantine notes: This species is taken on a broad diversity of host plants (at least 23 plant families) and is found in nearly every warm area of the world in all zoogeographic areas except the Oriental region. Of the 11 species in Ferrisia, only F. malvastra and F. virgata have been intercepted at US ports-of-entry. References: WilliaWa1988a; WilliaGr1992; Willia2004. All references mentioning: Ferrisia malvastra
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