Crypticerya littoralis

Unruh, Corinne M. & Gullan, Penny J., 2008, Identification guide to species in the scale insect tribe Iceryini (Coccoidea: Monophlebidae), Zootaxa 1803 (1), pp. 1-106 : 24

Crypticerya littoralis group

Four Neotropical species belong to this informal group: C. littoralis , C. genistae , C. minima and C. palmeri . All of these species form an ovisac and the ovisac band has dense flagellate setae and pores with trilocular centre and 6–8 outer loculi. Crypticerya palmeri is easily distinguished from the other species in this group by the presence of a single cicatrix (the other three species have three cicatrices) and C. minima has a single pore type (trilocular centre) in the ovisac band and all other species have two types (bilocular and trilocular centre). Crypticerya littoralis and C. genistae look very similar and differ by the shape of the pores in the outer ovisac band and by the shape of the bases of the setae found in the ovisac band. Crypticerya littoralis and C. palmeri are found in Mexico, and C. genistae and C. minima probably are native to South America. Crypticerya genistae has been discovered recently as a pest in Florida ( Hodges, 2006).