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Biology- Adult female mealybugs can lay up to 600 eggs, usually
found in a cottony-like ovisac beneath her body. One exception is the
longtail mealybug which gives live birth to crawlers. Within 6 to 14 days
the eggs start to hatch and the immature scale crawlers emerge. This
stage is when dispersal to new plant parts or new host occurs. The
crawler selects a feeding site and inserts its mouthpart, called a stylet,
and begins feeding on plant sap. While feeding, a sticky waste substance
is excreted by the insect (commonly called honeydew). This liquid adheres
to leaves and provides a medium for sooty mold to colonize and grow on.
Sooty mold is black and eventually covers leaves and stems. This mold
inhibits infected portions of the plant from photosynthesizing, and also
causes aesthetic damage.
The female crawlers go though 4
developmental stages until reaching maturity, where the male goes through
5. Males only feed in the first 2 instars, and as adults they do not have
functional mouthparts.
Plant injury symptoms-
Damage to plant is done by insects sucking plant's sap and the mealybugs
toxic saliva. This causes distorted growth and premature leaf drop.
Plant leaves also develop yellow chlorotic
spots. The fluffy white substance coating the mealybugs takes away from
the plants aesthetic value, along with the sooty mold.
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