Eggs uniformly pale yellow, usually surrounded by fluffy wax secreted by the adult. Glistening white wax rods project from these dorsal compound pores.
Adults are greenish-yellow, with dusky wings, and a single dark brown spot on each wing.
M. cardini may be confused with Aleurodicus dispersus , Paraleyrodes perseae , and P. minei in the field. To the untrained eye it may appear superficially similar to Aleurothrixus flococcus , but M. cardini does not secrete a profusion of fine wax threads as does flococcus . The adult of M. cardini is distinctive among species that infest citrus in Florida because of the single dark brown spot on each wing.