Animal field guide
Citrus Mealybug
Planococcus citri
A small, soft-bodied sap-sucking mealybug, one of the scale insects, now found almost worldwide on citrus, greenhouse plants, houseplants and grapevines. Females are covered in white powdery wax, and colonies excrete sticky honeydew on which black sooty mould grows. It also spreads some grapevine viruses.
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Animal · Southeast Asia · Soft shoots · Relatively common
Known for: Oval adult female about 3 to 4 millimetres long, Body dusted with white mealy wax, Short wax filaments around the edge, Faint darker stripe along the middle of the back
Animal field guide
Citrus Mealybug
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A small, soft-bodied sap-sucking mealybug, one of the scale insects, now found almost worldwide on citrus, greenhouse plants, houseplants and grapevines. It also spreads some grapevine viruses.
Native range
Natural range, not this capture location
Soft shoots, fruit calyxes and leaf undersides on citrus and many greenhouse crops, where wax-coated colonies sit in sheltered crevices and plant joints.
Search near meAnimalDex stats
Dominance
5
Speed
3
Size
2
Intelligence
4
Rarity
12%
Total
26
Size scale
STEP 2 · PROVE IT
STEP 3 · BATTLE & FUSE
Understand the animal
Understand the Citrus Mealybug
Factual biology first: what this animal is like, where it lives, how it survives, and why those traits exist.
01
Introduction to Citrus Mealybug
A small, soft-bodied sap-sucking mealybug, one of the scale insects, now found almost worldwide on citrus, greenhouse plants, houseplants and grapevines. Females are covered in white powdery wax, and colonies excrete sticky honeydew on which black sooty mould grows. It also spreads some grapevine viruses.
How to identify a Citrus Mealybug
- Oval adult female about 3 to 4 millimetres long
- Body dusted with white mealy wax, pink to yellowish beneath
- Short wax filaments around the edge, slightly longer at the tail
- Faint darker stripe along the middle of the back
- White cottony egg masses in leaf axils and stem joints
Why Citrus Mealybug are interesting
- Adult males are tiny winged insects without functional mouthparts, so they cannot feed and live only a few days.
- A female lays several hundred eggs into a cottony ovisac, and in warm glasshouses a generation can take only about a month.
- Ants, including the Argentine ant, tend colonies for their sugary excretions and drive off parasitoids and predators in return.
- The ladybird Cryptolaemus montrouzieri and the parasitoid wasp Leptomastix dactylopii are widely released to control it on crops.
02
Adaptations and biological abilities
03
Why does Citrus Mealybug behave this way?
- Oval adult female about 3 to 4 millimetres long
- Body dusted with white mealy wax, pink to yellowish beneath
- Short wax filaments around the edge, slightly longer at the tail
- Faint darker stripe along the middle of the back
- White cottony egg masses in leaf axils and stem joints
No distinct daily activity cycle has been described; females and older nymphs stay mostly settled and feeding. It has no true dormancy, but development slows sharply in cold weather, and in cool climates it survives mainly indoors or in greenhouses.
04
Why Soft shoots?
Habitat: Soft shoots, fruit calyxes and leaf undersides on citrus and many greenhouse crops, where wax-coated colonies sit in sheltered crevices and plant joints.
Native range: Southeast Asia
Native range
Natural range, not this specific capture location.
Soft shoots, fruit calyxes and leaf undersides on citrus and many greenhouse crops, where wax-coated colonies sit in sheltered crevices and plant joints.
05
Why this diet?
Feeds on plant sap drawn from the phloem through piercing, sucking mouthparts inserted into leaves, stems and fruit. It uses a very wide range of host plants and excretes surplus sugar as honeydew.
06
Activity, rest, and lifespan
No distinct daily activity cycle has been described; females and older nymphs stay mostly settled and feeding. It has no true dormancy, but development slows sharply in cold weather, and in cool climates it survives mainly indoors or in greenhouses.
One generation takes roughly a month in warm conditions and much longer in cool weather. Adult males live only a few days, as they cannot feed.
07
Citrus Mealybug reproduction
After mating, a female lays several hundred eggs into a cottony wax sac beneath and behind her body, then dies. Tiny crawlers hatch within about a week and wander to new feeding sites; females pass through three nymphal stages before maturing.
Adult females are wingless, oval and wax-covered, much like large nymphs. Adult males are tiny, winged and gnat-like, with two long white tail filaments and no working mouthparts.
08
Predators, threats, and defense
The mealybug destroyer ladybird Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, lacewing larvae, hoverfly larvae and parasitoid wasps such as Leptomastix dactylopii and Anagyrus species attack it. Its wax coat repels water and sprays, and ants tending colonies for honeydew drive enemies away.
09
Conservation and rarity
Rarity: Relatively common · 12/100. AnimalDex canonical rarity score: 12/100, maintained by the live indexed species profile.
- Observe from a respectful distance and avoid changing the animal's behavior.
- Do not block feeding, shelter, nesting, or travel routes.
- Use a live camera capture without handling or staging wildlife.
Speak to the animal
Speak to the Citrus Mealybug
It answers as itself: ask about how it lives, or bring it something of yours and hear what it would do, from its own Power.
Anonymous: 3/day. Signed-in: 10/day. Pro: 100/day.
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Compare the Citrus Mealybug
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Battled in the Arena
No one has taken a Citrus Mealybug into an Arena battle yet. Battles players fight with this animal in the AnimalDex app show up here.
Where to find them
Where to find Citrus Mealybug
To find Citrus Mealybug in the wild, focus on the exact habitat patches that match its body design and daily behavior, not just the broad country where it exists. You usually do better by working one good piece of habitat inside southeast Asia than by covering too much ground.
- Soft shoots, fruit calyxes, leaf undersides on citrus
- Protected habitat blocks within southeast Asia
Scientific name
Planococcus citri
Category
Animal
Habitat
Soft shoots, fruit calyxes and leaf undersides on citrus and many greenhouse crops, where wax-coated colonies sit in sheltered crevices and plant joints.
Rarity
Relatively common · 12/100
Native range
Southeast Asia
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