Citrus mealybug
The citrus mealybug is a tiny bug that looks like a little blob of white fluff. The female is only about 3 millimetres long and is covered in white wax, with waxy threads around her edges. She sits on plants and sucks their juice, and she has no wings at all.
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Fun facts
The females never get wings, but the males do. A flying male looks like a tiny gnat.
The males live for less than three days as grown-ups and do not eat at all.
The female lays her eggs in a fluffy nest of white wax that looks like a bit of cotton wool.
Inside its body live helpful bacteria, and inside those bacteria live even smaller bacteria, like Russian nesting dolls.
It has been found on plants from almost 70 different plant families.
Most asked questions about Citrus mealybug
?What are the white fluffy bugs on my houseplant?
They might be citrus mealybugs. They are tiny bugs covered in white wax that suck juice from plants.
?Are mealybugs harmful to people?
No. They only harm plants by sucking their juice.
?What plants do citrus mealybugs eat?
Almost any flowering plant, including citrus trees, fruit crops and many houseplants.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Planococcus citri
- Named by
- Risso, 1813
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Pseudococcidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Pseudococcidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Planococcus citri (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Jeffrey W. Lotz, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Bugwood.org. CC BY 3.0 us, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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