Blueberry Mealybug | Berry Diagnostic Tool

Mealybugs are soft-bodied relatives of scale insects. Similarly to scale insects, mealybugs will suck sap from tender tissues. Unlike scale insects, adult mealybugs are mobile and will attack blueberry roots.

Mealybugs are sexually dimporhic. Adult females are white to pink in color and have a body shape reminiscent of pill bugs or roly polies. Male mealybugs are winged, and more closely resemble drosophila or gnats.

Mealybugs lay eggs in cottony masses. In blueberry, mealybug eggs will be underground in the roots.

Side view of small, pale pink segmented insect. Insect resembles roly poly, with multiple broad segments and tapering bottom. — Mealybug female.

Pale pink insect with round-ovoid body on stem. Insect has many broad horizontal segments and two long tapering tails attached to its round bottom. Insect appears somewhat fuzzy or cottony. — Mealybug female.

Dug-up roots with multiple small, white cottony masses distributed along the roots. — Mealybug eggs on roots look like spherical or stretched masses of cotton.

For more information on Blueberry Mealybug see the following –

Michigan Blueberry Facts – Mealybugs
Mealybugs and Ants in: The Blueberry Bulletin Vol XXV, No. 22 (Rutgers)

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