# Mealy scale (*Icerya purchasi*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/mealy-scale  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

The mealy scale (Icerya purchasi) is a species in the family Monophlebidae, order Hemiptera. Source checklists list it for 123 countries, including Albania, Algeria and Angola.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| 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 | 123 countries |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Arthropoda
- class: Insecta
- order: Hemiptera
- family: Monophlebidae
- genus: Icerya
- species: *Icerya purchasi* Maskell, 1879

Synonyms: *Acerya purchasi*, *Iceria purchasi*, *Icerya pulchasi*, *Icerya purchase*, *Icerya purchasi citriperda*, *Icerya purchasi crawii*, *Icerya purchasi maskelli*, *Pericerya purchasi*, *Peryceria purchasi*, *Perycerya purchasi*, *Preicerya purchsi*, *Ycerya purchasi*

## Where it has been recorded

Countries with openly licensed sighting records on GBIF (records in brackets). Recorded sightings, not a definitive range.

Albania (0), Angola (0), Argentina (0), Azerbaijan (0), Barbados (0), Bangladesh (0), Bulgaria (0), Bermuda (0), Bolivia (0), Bahamas (0), Cocos (Keeling) Islands (0), Congo - Kinshasa (0), Congo - Brazzaville (0), Switzerland (0), Chile (0), China (0), Colombia (0), Costa Rica (0), Cuba (0), Cape Verde (0), Curaçao (0), Christmas Island (0), Cyprus (0), Germany (0), Dominica (0), Dominican Republic (0), Algeria (0), Ecuador (0), Egypt (0), Eritrea (0), Spain (0), Ethiopia (0), Fiji (0), Micronesia (0), France (0), Georgia (0), French Guiana (0), Gibraltar (0), Guadeloupe (0), Greece (0), Guatemala (0), Guam (0), Guyana (0), Hong Kong SAR China (0), Croatia (0), Haiti (0), Hungary (0), Israel (0), Iraq (0), Iran (0), Italy (0), Jamaica (0), Jordan (0), Japan (0), Kenya (0), Kiribati (0), St. Kitts & Nevis (0), North Korea (0), South Korea (0), Cayman Islands (0), and 63 more

## Common questions

### Where does the mealy scale live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the mealy scale for 123 countries, including Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina and Azerbaijan. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

### What kind of animal is the mealy scale?

The mealy scale (Icerya purchasi) belongs to the family Monophlebidae in the order Hemiptera.

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5), CC BY 4.0, v1. Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5
- [AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), CC BY 4.0, v7. Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org), per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed), 2026-11-11. Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
- [EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1), CC0 1.0, 1.0. Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), CC BY-SA 4.0, 2026-11-11. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

Cite as: Mealy scale (Icerya purchasi). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/mealy-scale