Mealybugs are small, soft-bodied insects that feed on plant sap. They have over 5000 described species worldwide. Mealybugs have a waxy coating and can be major agricultural pests, infecting plants like rice, citrus, and cotton. They have complex life cycles with egg, nymph, and adult stages. Females are wingless while males have wings. Mealybugs damage plants by sap feeding and excreting honeydew that promotes sooty mold growth. They can be controlled through chemical, physical, and biological methods like using insecticides, removing infested plants, and introducing natural enemies like ladybugs and parasitic wasps. Resistance develops over time, requiring integrated pest management.

1. Mealybugs
Aqsa 684

2. Mealybugs
(Classification)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Superfamily: Coccoidea
Family: Pseudococcidae
Genus: Planococcus
Species: P. citri

3. Introduction
• Members of scale insects
• Name is due to the sticky and powdery covering that
resembles “cornmeal”
• 5000 species from 246 families of plants
• Waxy material, which protect them from loss of
moisture and heat
• Common pest of indoor plants
• “Hard to kill insects” as they live in hidden places

4. Contd…
• Warm temperature favors their growth
• Herbaceous, woody plants, citrus plants and ornamental
plants.
• Found all over world except Antarctica.
• Fruiting phase of plants
• Arboreal or subterranean.
• Can make colonies
• Suck plant sap.

5. Female
•Adult females are elongate, oval, soft
•Distinct segmentation
• 8–9 mm in length,
• Wingless
• Their thread-like mouthparts.

6. Male
• Adult male has a pair of long opaque wings
• Slender body
• Two multisegmented antennae that are about half the
body length
• About 1.5 mm in length
• Active fliers & abortive mouthparts
• Only fly and find a female to mate

7. Commonly found types of mealybugs
i. Rice mealybug
Across East Asia, serious pest of rice in Asian
countries. All stages except crawlers
infective.
ii. Citrus mealybug
Citrus plant pest. Female and nymph infective
Greenhouse plants.

8. Contd….
iii. Long-tailed mealybug
Possess long tail, 17 pairs of waxy
filaments around periphery,(tail) filaments &
bear young ones.
iv. Root mealybug
Present in roots. No filaments, serious pest
of Africa violet.

9. Life cycle
Stages of life
Egg
• Oval, visible and are covered in ovisac.
• Color of eggs differ among different species & time of
hatching.
Nymph
• Instars are nymphal stages.
• First instars are called crawlers and active.
• Females have three instar and males have four for
stages.

10. Adults
Females develop after third instar .
Parts and pores for secretion of wax.
Not active, oval, pink to white in color and die after
laying eggs hatch under the female’s dead body.
Males are formed after fourth instar including pre-pupa
and pupa stages. It is produced in cocoon.
Three pairs of eyes and wing pads
Active and pair of wings, lack mouth parts which
means they do not feed. They are needed for mating.

12. Life cycle of P.citri
• Eggs are oval, yellow and glossy 300 to 800 in one.
• Hatching after 6 to 10 days.
• Nymphs appeared are coated with some wax particles containing red
eyes. Instar are 4 in females while 3 in males (with pre-pupal and pupa
stage).
• Males are in cocoon, greyish, contain wings and antennae, slender and
elongated than females.
• Female grow completely in 6 to 8 weeks while male in 2 to 3 weeks.
• Females are wing-less and are coated with wax
• Total span is 30 to 35 days.
• Both males and females are almost equal

13. Damage
• Direct & Indirect
• plant growth, wilting, yellowing of leaves,
leaf drop and possibly plant death
• Fungus; Indoor plants, green house plants
• Mango, banana and apple tree.
• Plants under irrigation or fertilization
• Affect xylem and phloem.
• Cotton mealybug in 2005, Sindh Punjab.

14. Contd…
• They secrete honey dew
• promote development of fungus
• creating a black sooty mass
• Honeydew flicked away by mealybug
• Mealybugs are carrier for various
viral diseases and secrete toxins.

15. Methods of dispersal
By planting of infected plants have cryptic behavior.
 Dispersal to distant areas can be due to trade of plants infected .
 Water used for irrigation is the source for Root mealybugs dispersal
 Air currents are responsible for spread of crawlers
 Instruments used for farming and harvesting used in infested area, if
not cleaned properly may carry them.
 If natural predators are not present mealybugs spread rapidly.
 Ants are reported as an important source for dispersal of crawler

16. Control of mealybugs
1. Chemical control
They repel water soluble and polar insecticide due to
their waxy coating . Controlled by some neonicotinoids
(dinotefuran) and systemic insecticides (Azadirachtin) or
drenches.
Can be applied in many ways
Population above ground can be controlled by
foliage cover spray.

17. Contd…
Insecticide solutions applied to soil cause its
penetration to root zone to control species
underground.
Applied through irrigation.
Smearing of insecticides on stem
and branches can also be done.
Ethyl bromide fumigation can also be done

18. Insecticides
Name Class Mode of action
Acephate Organophosphate Acetylcholine esterase
inhibitor
Dinotefuran Neonicotinoids Nicotinic acetylcholine
receptor disruptor
Bifenthrin Pyrethroid Prolong opening of
sodium channels
Buprofezin IGR Chitin synthesis inhibitor

19. Oil
• Oils have long been used for the control of scale insects
• the integration of narrow refined oils with other insecticides
was suggested as a means to dissolve the insect’s wax.
• Effective in the control of garden and household mealybugs.
• Neem oil and insecticidal soaps are used
• Not much effective on large area
• Neem Oil is also sprayed as insecticides

20. Physical control
• Water can cause mealybug’s flushing from leaves providing
fast but temporary relief
• Colonies of mealybugs can crush and rub off by cloth.
• Removal of infested plants.
• Cleaning by cotton dipped into alcohol.
• Hot water is also an effective to get rid of mealybugs as it
does not alter quality of fruit.

21. Biological control
Cryptolaemus montrouzieri
• “Australian lady bird beetle”
• mealybug destroyer.
Spalgis epius
Indian butterfly, feed on root mealy bug.

22. Contd…
Anagyrus pseudococci
• Parasitoids of citrus mealybug, .
• They feed of larval instars and females
Anagyrus fusciventris
Parasitoids, P. longispinus ,
One mealybug give birth to one wasp in about
3 weeks.
They suck bodies of instars and kill them

23. Resistance in mealybugs
• Behavioral resistance
• Metabolic resistance
Causes of resistance
• Waxy coating
• Cryptic behavior
• Presence of refugia
• Repeated exposure

24. Management of Resistance
Different insecticide with different active ingredients should be
used with planning i.e., rotation of insecticides.
Insecticide should be sprayed accurately and at optimum timing.
Only area infected with mealybugs should be sprayed.
Biological control should be used rather than insecticide.
Insecticide should be use in high volume as due to mealybugs
wax coating and cryptic behavior they are difficult to kill.