Longtailed mealybug (Pseudococcus longispinus)
Longtailed mealybug
- Found on citrus throughout Western Australia. Populations are usually low and no economic damage has been recorded by this species.
Identification
- Adult female 3-4mm long covered with a thin coating of white wax. Tail filaments are longer than, or as long as the body. Side filaments are also long compared to the other two species.
- Crawlers are pink, less than 1mm long. Later stages are similar in appearance to females.
- When squashed, the body fluid is pale yellow.
Life cycle
- Longtailed mealybugs do not produce an ovisac. Females either produce live young, or the eggs hatch into crawlers very quickly with females producing about 200 young.
- The longtailed generation time is longer than the citrus mealybug. Life cycle duration (egg to egg-laying adult) can take up to six weeks in summer and twice as long in winter.