Mealybugs are insects in the family Pseudococcidae, unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm habitats. Many species are considered pests as they feed on plant juices of greenhouse 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.
Scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient grouping than the superfamily Coccoidea due to taxonomic uncertainties. Adult females typically have soft bodies and no limbs, and are concealed underneath domed scales, extruding quantities of wax for protection. Some species are hermaphroditic, with a combined ovotestis instead of separate ovaries and testes. Males, in the species where they occur, have legs and sometimes wings, and resemble small flies. Scale insects are herbivores, piercing plant tissues with their mouthparts and remaining in one place, feeding on sap. The excess fluid they imbibe is secreted as honeydew on which sooty mold tends to grow. The insects often have a mutualistic relationship with ants, which feed on the honeydew and protect them from predators. There are about 8,000 described species.
Maconellicoccus hirsutus, is a pest of many plants, trees, and shrubs. It infests hibiscus, citrus, coffee, sugar cane, annonas, plums, guava, mango, okra, sorrel, teak, mora, pigeon pea, peanut, grapevine, maize, asparagus, chrysanthemum, beans, cotton, soybean, cocoa, and many other plants. The pest forms colonies on the host plant, and if left undisturbed, the colonies will grow into large masses of white waxy coverings on branches, fruiting structures, leaves, and even whole plants, including large trees.
Anagyrus lopezi is a species of parasitic wasp native to Central America. It is used as biological control agent against the cassava mealybug.
Pseudococcus viburni is a close relative of the grape mealybug and a pest of the vineyards around the world.
Coccinella undecimpunctata, the eleven-spot ladybird or eleven-spotted lady beetle, it is native to central Asia, though commonly found in Europe, and formerly North America as its populations are decreasing. It is of the family Coccinellidae, commonly referred to as ladybugs or lady beetles.
Putoidae is a family of scale insects commonly known as giant mealybugs or putoids. There is probably a single genus, Puto, containing about sixty species. The genus name Macrocerococcus has also been used but it is now considered to be a synonym of Puto. The genus Puto was formerly classified as a member of the Pseudococcidae; however, it so significantly differed from the rest of the Pseudococcidae that it was accorded its own family Putoidae.
Paracoccus marginatus, commonly known as the papaya mealybug, is a small sap-sucking insect in the mealybug family, Pseudococcidae. It is found on a number of different hosts, including economically important tropical fruit trees and various ornamental plants.
Hans Rudolf Herren is a Swiss entomologist, farmer and development specialist. He was the first Swiss to receive the 1995 World Food Prize and the 2013 Right Livelihood Award for leading a major biological pest management campaign in Africa, successfully fighting the cassava mealybug and averting a major food crisis that could have claimed an estimated 20 million lives.
Apoanagyrus is a parasitic wasp genus in the family Encyrtidae.
Planococcus citri, commonly known as the citrus mealybug, is a species of mealybugs native to Asia. It has been introduced to the rest of the world, including Europe, the Americas, and Oceania, as an agricultural pest. It is associated with citrus, but it attacks a wide range of crop plants, ornamental plants, and wild flora.
Theocolax elegans is a parasitic wasp species in the genus Theocolax. It is a parasite of immature stages of stored grain pest insects such as Sitophilus granarius or Rhyzopertha dominica.
Chilo partellus, the spotted stalk borer or spotted stem borer, is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Charles Swinhoe in 1885. It is found in India, Pakistan, Iran, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and on Mayotte.
Phenacoccus solenopsis, the cotton mealybug or solenopsis mealybug, is a species of mealybug in the family Pseudococcidae. Having originated in North America, it has spread to other parts of the world and become a major pest of cotton crops.
Geococcus coffeae is a species in the mealybug family, Pseudococcidae, commonly known as the coffee root mealybug, or brown scale. It lives underground where it inserts its mouthparts into roots and sucks the sap.
Walther Raúl Enkerlin Hoeflich is a Mexican entomologist, advocate, and pioneer researcher of the economics of applied sterile insect technique (SIT), currently based at the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization (FOA) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Division.
Pseudococcus comstocki, common name Comstock mealybug, is a species of mealybug. The species was first discovered in 1902 in Japan. It is an invasive pest species that feeds on fruit and plants.
Planococcus ficus, commonly known as the vine mealybug, is a species of mealybug, belonging to the family Pseudococcidae, native to tropical and subtropical regions. The vine mealybug is found in Europe, Northern Africa, Southern Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East. The vine mealybug is invasive to weedy plants in many different regions of the world.
Altica cyanea is a species of flea beetle. It is a pest of millets such as sorghum in India. It is being investigated as a biological pest control of Ludwigia adscendens, a common weed in rice fields.
