Honeydew serves as a medium for the growth of sooty mold fungus that reduces the plant's photosynthetic abilities and ruins the plant's appearance. Feeding by mealybugs can cause premature leaf drop, dieback, and may even kill plants if left unchecked. Mealybugs are one of the more active groups of scale insects as most of them retain well-developed legs and remain mobile throughout their life. However, they generally move little once a suitable feeding site is found. This makes them appear like small spots of cotton on the plant, particularly when the female is laying eggs and producing an ovisac to cover and protect the eggs.
Mealybugs generally have an oval body outline.
Many of them produce marginal filaments of wax that may be wedge-shaped or spinelike, but others lack marginal filaments entirely. As immatures, male and female mealybugs look alike, but as adults they are quite different. The adult male looks more like a small two-winged fly. The life history of mealybugs varies depending on the species. Basically female mealybugs go through four developmental stages or instars and as adults may lay up to 600 eggs, usually in a cottony-like ovisac beneath her body.