CreatureData

White louse

Unaspis citri (Comstock, 1883)

Status not recordedinsects

The white louse (Unaspis citri) is a species in the family Diaspididae, order Hemiptera. Source checklists list it for 87 countries, including Algeria, American Samoa and Argentina.

No freely licensed photo yet

Quick facts about the white louse

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
87 countriessrc for Countries on record

Where does the white louse 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 white louse is listed for 87 countries.

FijiPapua New GuineaArgentinaChileDem. Rep. CongoHaitiDominican Rep.South AfricaMexicoUruguayBoliviaPeruColombiaPanamaCosta RicaHondurasEl SalvadorGuatemalaBelizeVenezuelaGuyanaEcuadorPuerto RicoJamaicaCubaSenegalMaliBeninNigerNigeriaCameroonTogoCôte d'IvoireGuineaLiberiaSierra LeoneCongoGabonMadagascarAlgeriaVanuatuThailandMyanmarVietnamSyriaArmeniaGreeceNetherlandsPortugalSpainNew CaledoniaSolomon Is.New ZealandAustraliaTaiwanItalyGeorgiaMalaysiaBruneiJapanParaguayYemenEgypt
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Algeria
  2. American Samoa
  3. Argentina
  4. Armenia
  5. Australia
  6. Barbados
  7. Belize
  8. Benin
  9. Bermuda
  10. Bolivia
  11. Brunei
  12. Cameroon
  13. Chile
  14. Colombia
  15. Comoros
  16. Congo - Brazzaville
  17. Congo - Kinshasa
  18. Cook Islands
  19. Costa Rica
  20. Côte d’Ivoire
  21. Cuba
  22. Curaçao
  23. Dominica
  24. Dominican Republic
  25. Ecuador
  26. Egypt
  27. El Salvador
  28. Fiji
  29. Gabon
  30. Georgia
  31. Greece
  32. Grenada
  33. Guadeloupe
  34. Guatemala
  35. Guinea
  36. Guyana
  37. Haiti
  38. Honduras
  39. Hong Kong SAR China
  40. Italy
Show 47 more countries
  1. Jamaica
  2. Japan
  3. Kiribati
  4. Liberia
  5. Madagascar
  6. Malaysia
  7. Mali
  8. Marshall Islands
  9. Martinique
  10. Mauritius
  11. Mexico
  12. Montserrat
  13. Myanmar (Burma)
  14. Netherlands
  15. New Caledonia
  16. New Zealand
  17. Niger
  18. Nigeria
  19. Niue
  20. Panama
  21. Papua New Guinea
  22. Paraguay
  23. Peru
  24. Portugal
  25. Puerto Rico
  26. Samoa
  27. Senegal
  28. Seychelles
  29. Sierra Leone
  30. Singapore
  31. Solomon Islands
  32. South Africa
  33. Spain
  34. St. Kitts & Nevis
  35. St. Lucia
  36. St. Vincent & Grenadines
  37. Syria
  38. Taiwan
  39. Thailand
  40. Togo
  41. Tonga
  42. U.S. Virgin Islands
  43. Uruguay
  44. Vanuatu
  45. Venezuela
  46. Vietnam
  47. Yemen

Why a country list is not a range map

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the white louse as introduced in 3 countries.

  1. Dominica
  2. Ecuador
  3. 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 white louse 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 white louse classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderHemiptera
  5. familyDiaspididae
  6. genusUnaspis
  7. SpeciesUnaspis citri (Comstock, 1883)

Synonyms Chinaspis citri, Chionaspis annae, Chionaspis citri, Chionaspis citricola, Diaspis annae, Dinaspis annae, Dinaspis veitchi, Howardia citri, Mytilaspis citricola, Prontaspis citri, Trichomytilus veitchi, Unaspis cixri, Unaspis crtri, Uniaspis citri

Other names and names in other languages (16)
  • Citrus snow scaleEnglish
  • Orange chionaspisEnglish
  • Orange snow scaleEnglish
  • White louse scaleEnglish
  • White snow scaleEnglish
  • Schneeweisse citrus-schildlausGerman
  • Escama de nieveSpanish
  • cochonilha branca da laranjeiraPortuguese
  • Щитовка апельсиноваяRussian
  • niseyanone-kaigaramushiroot
  • cochinilla acanalada de los citricosSpanish
  • cochinilla acanalada de los cítricosSpanish
  • cochinilla blanca del troncoSpanish
  • guagua nevada de los cítricosSpanish
  • la escama de nieve en citricosSpanish
  • la escama de nieve en cítricosSpanish

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the white louse

Other species in the same genus Unaspis.

Yanon scale

Unaspis yanonensis

DiaspididaeNo free photo yet

CompareWhite louse vs Euonymus scaleWhite louse vs Yanon scaleWhite louse vs Unaspis acuminataWhite louse vs Unaspis aei

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Where does the white louse live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the white louse for 87 countries, including Algeria, American Samoa, Argentina, Armenia and Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the white louse an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the white louse as introduced in 3 countries: Dominica, Ecuador and United States, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What kind of animal is the white louse?

The white louse (Unaspis citri) belongs to the family Diaspididae in the order Hemiptera.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). White louse (Unaspis citri). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-louse

MLA

“White louse (Unaspis citri).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-louse.

BibTeX
@misc{white_louse_2026,
  title = {White louse (Unaspis citri)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-louse},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}