Citrophilus mealybug	-	Description		-		Combined description for all species Adults - Eggs - Crawler - Nymph - Male cocoon - Damage
	Longtailed mealybug
	Obscure mealybug

The three major mealybug pests of pipfruit in New Zealand are similar in development and appearance, and are difficult to tell apart in some stages. Where available, specific features which can be used to distinguish the species are mentioned below under the different stages. Click here to see the three species side by side.

Adult female of longtailed mealybugs are oval, soft bodied, wingless insects about 3-4.5 mm long, with short antennae and legs. Despite the short legs, which are not visible when viewed from above, the females are quite mobile, moving over the surface of the trees but preferring the crevices and cracks in the bark for reproduction and egg laying. Their yellowish-grey bodies are covered with white, powdery wax except for a darker stripe running up the middle of the back. Around the edge of the body, this wax is extended into a fringe of filaments and the hindmost two are exceptionally long, giving this mealybug its common name. The citrophilus mealybug has a similar appearance but has two distinctive dark stripes on its back, and the body contents, revealed when the mealybug is crushed, are bright red. The obscure mealybug has no dark stripes and the body contents are pinkish grey. Both the citrophilus mealybug and the obscure mealybug have distinct 'tail' filaments, but not as long as those which characterise the longtailed mealybug.

Adult male mealybugs are tiny, fragile insects with one pair of wings, long antennae, and two white wax tail filaments. They emerge from a pupal cocoon and look more like a fly than a mealybug. They are essential for successful reproduction (in these species), and fly or walk over the bark to the wingless females for mating. They live for only a few days and do not feed. The adult male longtailed mealybug is typical in being about 1 mm long, with a single pair of transparent wings. Two long filaments of white wax project from the end of the abdomen. The males of citrophilus mealybug and obscure mealybug are similar.

Egg Mealybug females either lay their eggs in an egg sac (obscure and citrophilus mealybugs) or lay eggs of extremely short duration (e.g. a few minutes, longtailed mealybug) beneath their bodies. In the latter case, the straw-yellow eggs soon hatch into crawlers which may stay for 2-3 days beneath the female before dispersing. The egg sacs of obscure and citrophilus mealybugs are similar in appearance.The eggs in the sac are laid individually, scattered amongst its woolly wax filaments.

Crawler The first stage (instar) nymph or crawler is about 0.3 mm long and similar in shape to the adult female, except that the legs and antennae are relatively larger and the body colour is not obscured by wax (e.g. yellow body of the longtailed mealybug crawler). Apart from the winged males, the crawler is the most mobile stage, dispersing onto the leaves to feed..

Nymph The nymphs pass through second and third instars (and then pupa in the male) before becoming adult. They look like smaller replicas of the adult female, but in the case of the longtailed mealybug, may be more yellow. At the end of the second instar, immature males spin a silken cocoon in sheltered spots (including leaves and fruit) and form a prepupa, which moults to a pupa within the cocoon. The cocoon is composed of cottony white wax, and is about 1 mm long.

Damage Mealybugs feed on phloem sap, and are usually found on leaves, fruit, or in cracks and crevices on the bark, especially during winter. Heavy infestations may seriously weaken young or small plants and are reported to cause uneven ripening of the fruit on pear trees. However, economic loss in pipfruit usually results from a build up of sooty mould fungi on honeydew excreted on to the fruit, or because the presence of mealybugs on the fruit is perceived as a quarantine threat by an export market. At harvest they may be on the fruit in the stalk cavity or around and within the calyx.