Red Wax Scale (Ceroplastes Rubens Maskell)

Red wax scale, Ceroplastes rubens Maskell (fig. 1) was first found in an Orange County nursery on the foliage and stem of greenhouse-grown Aglaonema pictum Var. Tricolor and A. Oblongifolium ‘Curtisii’ by the late A. C. Crews, plant specialist, in November 1955. This collection was a new Florida and continental United States record of an introduced plant pest. Plants found infested with red wax scale in Florida nurseries are quarantined until the infestation is eliminated.