To date the only interest I have ever had in Mealy Bugs was how to get rid of them, an attitude which seems to be shared by Prof Google.
When we first saw this one clambering around the leaves, we assumed it had a heap of babies on its back but I could not find any reference to mealy bugs carrying babies. So I have no idea what this one is all about.
Well you didn't think that after taking all those shots yesterday that I would only be posting one of them did you?
And for people who have never seen a mealy bug, well consider yourself very lucky.
@landownunder@peterlgrave@mbrutus@yurugabell@koalagardens@pcoulson@koalagardens@judithdeacon@taffy@merrelyn@louannwarren@littleconnie
Thanks to some detective work by @gigiflower, I think we can safely say that this is not a mealybug but the larval stage of the Mealybug Ladybird or Mealybug Destroyer, a beetle that feeds off mealybugs and sometimes aphids. Its scientific name is Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, and is a ladybird species endemic to Queensland and New South Wales. You can actually buy a tube of 200 larvae for $59.40 on the internet. So he really is one of the good guys. Pity about the fact that we put all the ones we pruned off the dwarf pomegranate into the rubbish bin.
The things you learn on 365.
I guess the next step is to get a shot of the adult beetle.
Thanks to some detective work by @gigiflower, I think we can safely say that this is not a mealybug but the larval stage of the Mealybug Ladybird or Mealybug Destroyer, a beetle that feeds off mealybugs and sometimes aphids. Its scientific name is Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, and is a ladybird species endemic to Queensland and New South Wales. You can actually buy a tube of 200 larvae for $59.40 on the internet. So he really is one of the good guys. Pity about the fact that we put all the ones we pruned off the dwarf pomegranate into the rubbish bin.
The things you learn on 365.
I guess the next step is to get a shot of the adult beetle.