He named it Aleyrodes cocois, but it was later transferred to the new genus Aleurodicus by the English entomologist John William Douglas.

[1] The eggs are laid on the undersides of leaves in small batches in a spiral pattern 2 cm (1 in) or more across, close to wax patches secreted by the female.

The second, third and fourth instars are immobile and feed by sucking sap from the leaf; they secrete wax and develop a marginal fringe of white waxy strands.

[1] Aleurodicus cocois is found in the West Indies, Mexico, Venezuela, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil and Peru.

[3] After a hurricane struck Barbados in 1831, the planting of imported coconut palms accidentally introduced A. cocois but not its natural enemies, and the whitefly attacked virtually every tree on the island and devastated production.