Egg development takes between 3 and 9 days. Eggs are minute, varying from 0.3 to 0.4 mm in length and number as many as 654 eggs per sack. In its egg stage, the hibiscus mealybug disperses most easily by wind. The wax, which sticks to each egg, also facilitates passive transport by animals or man. Wingless crawlers, nymphs, and females have been known to travel short distances over the ground to get to other host plants in adjoining fields.
Agricultural commerce is also responsible for the pest's spread.
The hibiscus mealybug can complete its entire life cycle in 23 to 30 days. Under optimum laboratory conditions, there can be as many as 15 generations a year. The pest can occur seasonally in colder regions from infestations spread by wind currents. The pest has some ability to adapt to cooler weather as shown by nymphal movement to sheltered locations and the female's choice of protected places for eggsacks. As it feeds, the hibiscus mealybug injects into the plant a toxic saliva that results in malformed leaf and shoot growth, stunting, and occasional death.