Pseudococcus jackbeardsleyi Gimpel and Miller

Taxonomic position

Insecta: Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae

Common name

Jack Beardsley mealybug, banana mealybug

Habitat / Crop(s) damaged

Papaya, banana, custard apple, hibiscus, etc.

Pest status

This is the latest invasive mealybug species that has entered India. Small infestations were detected on papaya fruits from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, in 2012.

The mealybug is known to occur in many other Asian countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Maldives. It is of neotropical origin like the other recent invasive mealybugs in India including the papaya mealybug and the Madeira mealybug. It is highly polyphagous.

For more details, see Mani et al., 2012 and Plantwise Knowledge Bank.

Images

References

Mani, M., Joshi, S., Kalyanasundaram, M., Shivaraju, C., Krishnamoorthy, A.,Asokan, R. and Rebijith, K. B. 2012. A new invasive Jack Beardsley mealybug, Pseudococcus jackbeardsleyi (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) on papaya in India. Florida Entomologist, 96(1): 242-245. 2013.