It is a highly polyphogous insect and is considered to be the most devastating mealy bug known. It injects toxic saliva into the plant tissues during feeding, resulting in malformed leaves and shoots, stunting and death of young shoots. The PMB is re ported to attack more than 125 plant species, including fruits, food crops, vegetables, beverage crops, forest species and ornamental species. It spins a waxy coating, which together with its ability to crawl into cracks and crevices, protects the pest from pesticides. The efficiency of chemical control is questionable and heavy pesticide use could, in fact, be counter-productive.
Control is effected through a wide range of natural enemies, including parasitoids and predators.
The spread of the infestation is also reported in other island countries, notably Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts. In Grenada, where a state of national emergency was declared by the Government in late 1994, the PMB has now reached epidemic proportions, infesting over 100 crops and forest species. The situation in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as St. Kitts and N evis and the Windward Islands of Dominica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, is not as serious yet, but the threat posed and the possibly ensuing damages, particularly to the banana industry, an important foreign exchange earner, could be of extreme proportions. The infestation is therefore of major economic significance and jeopardizes the food security of the sub-region. The southern and western areas of the island are most se verely affected.