The whitefly female adult is all white and is surrounded by waxy filaments. Eggs are laid in a circle with the female at rest in the center. . . . . It damages citrus by sucking nutrients from foliage which weakens the plants. Citrus blackflies excrete honeydew on which sooty molds develop. Sooty molds coat citrus leaves, causing them to appear black.
Sooty molds can severely impair leaf respiration and photosynthesis.
Female A. hesperidum lay eggs in all three larval stages of citrus blackfly with a preference for the first stage. A female citrus blackfly larva will support two and occasionally three or four parasites while a male citrus blackfly larva will support only one parasite. Each female parasite can produce up to 70 offspring in four to five days with adequate hosts available. However, this parasite has poor searching ability and a short life span. A. hesperidum is most effective with high density citrus blackfly populations, especially during cool temperature and high humidity seasons.