Citrus mealybug (Planococcus citris)
Citrus mealybug
- Most common and widely established mealybug in Western Australia.
- Though economic damage is rare, damage to fruit can occur if populations are high. Well-established infestations have all developmental stages present.
Identification
- Newly-hatched nymphs are light yellow and free of wax, but soon start to excrete a waxy cover.
- Immature males and all stages of the female are similar in appearance. The adult female is 3-4mm long. The filaments around the margins of the body are shorter than the filaments at the posterior end. There is a dorsal line (barely visible) running the length of the body.
- When squashed, the body fluid is yellow. Longtailed mealybug has pale yellow body fluid while spherical mealybug has purplish body fluid.
Life cycle
- Yellowish eggs are laid in an egg sac resembling a white cottony mass behind the female. Females can lay between 300-600 eggs and eggs take three to six days to hatch, depending on temperature.
- Life cycle duration (egg to egg-laying adult) can take up to three weeks, there are three to four overlapping generations per year.
- Male mealybugs live for two to four days after pupation. Adult females live for an average of 87.6 days as adults and can start laying eggs seven days into their adult life.