CreatureData

Giant scale

Crypticerya genistae (Hempel, 1912)

Status not recordedinsects

The giant scale (Crypticerya genistae) is a species in the family Monophlebidae, order Hemiptera. Source checklists list it for 21 countries, including Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba and Bahamas.

No freely licensed photo yet

Quick facts about the giant scale

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
21 countriessrc for Countries on record

Where does the giant scale live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The giant scale is listed for 21 countries.

HaitiBahamasMexicoPeruColombiaPanamaEcuadorPuerto RicoJamaicaCubaTrinidad and Tobago
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Antigua & Barbuda
  2. Aruba
  3. Bahamas
  4. Barbados
  5. Colombia
  6. Cuba
  7. Curaçao
  8. Dominica
  9. Ecuador
  10. Grenada
  11. Guadeloupe
  12. Haiti
  13. Jamaica
  14. Mexico
  15. Panama
  16. Peru
  17. Puerto Rico
  18. St. Kitts & Nevis
  19. St. Lucia
  20. Trinidad & Tobago
  21. U.S. Virgin Islands

Why a country list is not a range map

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the giant scale as introduced in 2 countries, and flagged as invasive in 1 of them.

  1. Barbadosinvasive
  2. United States

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the giant scale endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the giant scale classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderHemiptera
  5. familyMonophlebidae
  6. genusCrypticerya
  7. SpeciesCrypticerya genistae (Hempel, 1912)

Synonyms Iceria genistae, Icerya genistae

Other names and names in other languages (5)
  • Genista giant scale insectEnglish
  • Soybean scaleEnglish
  • White partridge pea bugEnglish
  • White scaleEnglish
  • Cochinilla acanalada genistaSpanish

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the giant scale

Other species in the same genus Crypticerya.

Rose Icerya

Crypticerya rosae

MonophlebidaeNo free photo yet

CompareGiant scale vs Rose IceryaGiant scale vs Riley's giant scale insectGiant scale vs Morrill's giant scale insectGiant scale vs Townsend margarodid

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Where does the giant scale live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the giant scale for 21 countries, including Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados and Colombia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the giant scale an invasive species?

In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the giant scale as invasive in 1 country: Barbados. It lists it as introduced in 2 in all.

What kind of animal is the giant scale?

The giant scale (Crypticerya genistae) belongs to the family Monophlebidae in the order Hemiptera.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Giant scale (Crypticerya genistae). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-scale

MLA

“Giant scale (Crypticerya genistae).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-scale.

BibTeX
@misc{giant_scale_2026,
  title = {Giant scale (Crypticerya genistae)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-scale},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}