Icerya pulchra (Leonardi, 1907)

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 : 71

Icerya pulchra group

This group includes three species: I. pulchra , I. morrisoni and I. minor . All have the same pore types distributed in the same way on the derm. Icerya morrisoni has a single cicatrix whereas I. minor and I. pulchra have three cicatrices. The latter two species differ by the density of simple multilocular pores with a quinquelocular or hexalocular centre and 4–8 outer loculi.

Morrison believed I. minor and I. pulchra to be synonyms because the only difference he found between the two species was the number of multilocular pores on the dorsum. Green also believed these two species to be synonyms and suggested that I. minor represented a smaller form of I. pulchra . Rao separated the two species based on the length of the antennal and apical setae of the first-instar nymph (long in I. minor , short in I. pulchra ). He found that the dorsal pores of I. minor tend to have bilocular centres while the dorsal pores of I. pulchra tend to have trilocular centres.