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Mealybug
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Mealybugs are insects in the family Pseudococcidae, unarmored found in moist, warm habitats. Of the more than 2,000 described species, many are considered pests as they feed on plant juices of plants, house plants and subtropical trees and also act as a vector for several plant diseases. Some ants live in symbiotic relationships with them, protecting them from predators and feeding off the honeydew which they excrete.

Description
Mealybugs are sexually dimorphic: females appear as nymphs, exhibiting reduced morphology, and lack wings, although unlike many female scale insects, they often retain legs and can move. Males are smaller, gnat-like and have wings. Since mealybugs, as well as all other , are insects, they do not undergo complete metamorphosis in the true sense of the word. However, male mealybugs exhibit a radical change during their life cycle, changing from wingless, ovoid nymphs to -like flying adults.

Mealybug females feed on plant sap, normally in roots or other crevices, and in a few cases the bottoms of stored fruit. They attach themselves to the plant and secrete a powdery layer (hence the name "mealy" bug) used for protection while they suck the plant juices. The males are short-lived, as they do not feed at all as adults and only live to fertilize the females. Male citrus mealy bugs fly to the females and resemble fluffy .

Some of mealybug lay their eggs in the same waxy layer used for protection in quantities of 50–100; other species are born directly from the female.

The most serious pests are mealybugs that feed on . Other species damage , , (Jahn et al. 2003), , , , , , , , and . Mealybugs only tend to be serious pests in the presence of ants because the ants protect them from predators and parasites. Mealybugs are also a vector of viruses in grapevines, spreading grapevine leafroll and grapevine red blotch viruses.

Mealybugs also infest some species of carnivorous plant such as (pitcher plants). In such cases it is difficult to eradicate them without repeated applications of such as . Small infestations may not inflict significant damage. In larger amounts though, they can induce leaf drop. In recent years, some of the mealybug species have become invasive pests in localities posing a great problem to the new . In , Withania somnifera plant have been reported as a new reservoir host for an invasive mealybug species Phenacoccus solenopsis.

Some mealybugs of the are used as biological pest controls of invasive cacti in , including Harrisia balansae, H. martinii, and Opuntia cespitosa.

specimens of genus have been recovered from the stage deposits and several individuals are preserved carrying the extinct mealybug genus Electromyrmococcus. These fossils represent the oldest record of the between mealybugs and Acropyga species ants.

File:Maconellicoccus hirsutus - hibiscus mealybug - adult male.jpg|Male mealybug, Maconellicoccus hirsutus File:Formica fusca and mealy bugs.jpg| ants tending a herd of mealybugs File:Ladybug(india).jpg|A preying on mealybugs File:Mealybugs feeding on hibiscus plant.jpg|alt=Mealybugs on Hibiscus plant.|Mealybugs on hibiscus plant File:Phenacoccus aceris.jpg| Phenacoccus aceris File:Acropyga glaesaria SMFBE457B2 01.jpg| Acropyga glaesaria ant carrying an Electromyrmococcus abductus mealybug

Control methods
Insecticides such as ( e.g. , , ) have been used for control, but this approach is often considered counter-productive due to mortality of mealybug .

Some gardeners use species of predatory beetles ( e.g. ) and green lacewings () larvae to control mealybug infestations, as the larval lacewings are voracious predators of aphids and other small insects.

Metabolism
Mealybugs have a highly sophisticated metabolism that involves not one but two bacterial , one inside the other. The endosymbionts make essential amino acids that the mealybug is not able to acquire directly from its diet. Genetically, mealybugs rely on a "mosaic" of metabolic pathways in which proteins are transported across membranes between what were once independent organisms.

Use in the textile industry
In Oaxaca, Mexico, where mealybugs are known as cochinilla algodonosa, the insects are intentionally cultivated and farmed. Dried mealybugs are ground into a dust, producing a that is used to colour fabrics, in artist's paints, and in cosmetics.

Note that while are commonly called mealybugs, and they share a very similar physical appearance and size, mealybugs (Pseudococcidae) are in a different family to cochineals (Dactylopiidae), of which there are several species.

File:Nopales prickly pear cactus with mealy bugs.jpg|Prickly Pear Cactus with Mealybugs File:Mealy Bugs (Pseudococcidae) living on Prickly Pear Cactus Leaves (Leaves of Opuntia).jpg|Mealybugs on Prickly Pear Cactus Leaves File:Mealy Bugs Ground Red Dye.jpg|Mealybugs being ground into traditional red dye in Oaxaca, Mexico

Genera
The following are included in BioLib.cz: BioLib.cz: family: mealybugs - Pseudococcidae Heymons, 1915 (retrieved 14 May 2024)
  7. Albertinia
  16. Antonina
  20. Archeomyrmococcus
  51. GBIF Chorizococcus McKenzie, 1960
  75. Dawa
  107. Geococcus
  110. Gomezmenoricoccus
  115. Hambletonrhizoecus
  117. Hemisphaerococcus
  119. Heterococcus
  199. Pandanicola
  201. Paracoccus
  225. Planococcus
  241. Quadrigallicoccus

Extinct genera:

Note:

Further reading
  • Jahn, G. C. and J. W. Beardsley (1994). "Big-headed ants, Pheidole megacephala: Interference with the biological control of gray pineapple mealybugs". In D.F. Williams ed. Exotic Ants: Biology, Impact and Control of Introduced Species. Boulder, Col.: Westview Press, 199–205. .
  • Jahn, G. C. and J. W. Beardsley (1998). "Presence/absence sampling of mealybugs, ants, and major predators in pineapple". J. Plant Protection in the Tropics 11(1):73–79.
  • Jahn, Gary C., J. W. Beardsley, and H. González-Hernández (2003). "A review of the association of ants with mealybug wilt disease of pineapple". Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society. 36:9–28.

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