Pest Management in Horticultural Ecosystems
  • Year: 2024
  • Volume: 30
  • Issue: 2

Biology and morphometrics of cocoa mealy bug, Planococcus lilacinus (Cockerell)

  • Author:
  • H. M. Venugopal1, Jayalaxmi Narayan Hegde1,*, N.V. Namitha1, R. Darshan1
  • Total Page Count: 5
  • Page Number: 288 to 292

1Department of Entomology, Keladi Shivappa Nayaka University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shivamogga, Karnataka, India

*Email: jnh@uahs.edu.in

Online published on 4 October, 2025.

Abstract

Investigation on the biology of Cocoa mealy bug, Planococcus lilacinus was carried out at College of Agriculture, Navile, UAHS, Shivamogga during 2016-17 and study revealed that the fecundity of mealy bugs ranged from 130 to 288 eggs per female with mean±SD of 216.5±47.17. Female mealy bugs had only three instars, while the males had four instars. Total nymphal duration ranged from 16 to 24 days with mean±SD of 20.17±3.52. The total life cycle of the female mealy bug, P. lilacinus ranged from 27 to 41 days and that of males ranged from 20 to 32 days with mean±SD of 33.83±5.54 and 26.22±5.79, respectively.

Keywords

Cocoa mealy bug, Biology, Fecundity, Instars, Life cycle