The Mealybugs of Egypt

Mealybugs are very important agricultural pests for example the pink hibiscus mealybug Maconellicoccus hirsutus (Green) and the vine mealybug Planococcus ficus (Signoret) (Miller et al. 2002). Mealybugs are found worldwide and feed on a great diversity of plant hosts. Some of the cosmopolitan pest species are extremely polyphagous; for example the long-tailed mealybug Pseudococcus longspinus (Linnaeus 1767) has a relatively wide host range that includes many economically important crops such as avocado citrus grapes pear and pineapple (Faber et al. 2007 Furness 1976 Williams and Watson1988).