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How to identify it
- Adults are oval and humped, about 1 mm wide, and fuzzy with white wax over a pink or pink-orange body.[1]
- A fringe of wax filaments runs around the edge of the body, 17 pairs in all, with the pair at the rear the longest.[1]
- Nymphs look like smaller, flatter adults, white with a waxy coating and long wax filaments.[1]
- Look for colonies on the lower stem and roots of pineapple just above the soil, less often on leaves, fruit and blossom cups, often with ants in attendance.[1]
Look-alikes
| Look-alike | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Gray pineapple mealybug | Dysmicoccus neobrevipes, once treated as a gray strain of the same species, lives on the aboveground parts of pineapple rather than hiding at the base. Telling adult females of the two apart takes microscopic examination by an expert.[1] |
Where it lives
Believed to come from tropical Central and South America, it is now found worldwide wherever pineapple is grown, most densely in the tropics and subtropics. In the United States it has been found in Florida, California, Louisiana and all the Hawaiian Islands.[1]
Biology and life cycle
It reproduces without males: females give birth to live young, all of them female. Each female produces young about every 25 days, around 250 on average and up to 1,000.[1]
There are three nymphal stages, and development from nymph to adult takes about 26 to 55 days, depending on temperature. On table grapes, nymphs developed fastest at about 28 to 30 C (82 to 86 F), and few survived at 15 C (59 F).[1][4]
The crawler is the main dispersal stage and is carried mostly by wind.[1]
Ants tend it for its honeydew, guarding it and sometimes carrying it to new plants. The bigheaded ant (Pheidole megacephala) is its main partner, and other ants such as Iridomyrmex humilis and Solenopsis geminata also tend it.[1]
Besides pineapple and other bromeliads it feeds on a wide range of plants, including banana, citrus, coffee, cotton, hibiscus, orchids, taro, pumpkin and many perennial grasses. In Brazil it is one of the most common mealybugs in vineyards.[1][4]
Damage and signs
- Feeding on pineapple causes yellowish patches, rotted fruit bottoms and 'mealybug stripe' (discolored streaks over collapsed tissue), weakens the plant and leaves honeydew that grows sooty mold.[1]
- Its biggest impact is spreading pineapple mealybug wilt-associated viruses. Wilt turns leaves red, then pink, and the plant loses its stiffness and droops; plants often recover but stay smaller with shorter roots.[1][3]
- On crops where it is a minor pest, such as coffee, heavy feeding can stunt plants and lower yields. It is also a quarantine pest that can block pineapple trade.[1][2]
Health risk
The sources treat it only as a plant pest; none mentions bites or other risk to people or pets.[1][2]
Control
Prevention
Treating pineapple crowns in hot water (50 C, or 122 F, for 30 minutes) before planting freed them of the wilt virus and made them less attractive to the mealybug.[1]
Sanitation
Remove and destroy plants infested with the mealybug or the wilt virus, along with crop residue, and keep weeds and debris cleared in and around plantings, since they keep mealybug and ant populations going.[1]
Biological control
Control the ants first. The most successful control so far has come from managing the ants that tend this mealybug: without them it is far more exposed to parasitic wasps and lady beetles, several of which have been established in Hawaii. Ant baits have worked well.[1]
When to call a professional
Infested pineapples moving in trade may need postharvest fumigation; researchers are testing ethyl formate as a replacement for methyl bromide.[2]
Common questions
- What is the pink, fuzzy bug at the base of my pineapple plant?
- Pink-bodied mealybugs under white wax, clustered on the lower stem and roots just above the soil, are likely pineapple mealybugs.[1]
- Why are the leaves on my pineapple turning red and wilting?
- Pineapple mealybug wilt, a virus disease spread by this mealybug, reddens the leaves, which then turn pink as the plant droops.[1][3]
- How do I get rid of pineapple mealybugs?
- Start with the ants: controlling the ants that tend the mealybugs, for example with ant baits, has been the most successful approach, because natural enemies can then attack the mealybugs. Remove badly infested plants and keep the area free of weeds and debris.[1]
Sources
- University of Florida IFAS Extension (EDIS), “Pineapple Mealybug, Dysmicoccus brevipes (Featured Creatures EENY635, A.A. Egelie and J.L. Gillett-Kaufman, 2015).” journals.flvc.org/edis/article/view/132509 (accessed 2026-11-09)
- MDPI (Insects), “Kwon TH et al. Ethyl formate fumigation against pineapple mealybug, Dysmicoccus brevipes, a quarantine insect pest of pineapples. Insects 15(1):25 (2024) (abstract).” doi.org/10.3390/insects15010025 (accessed 2026-11-09)
- Cambridge University Press (Bulletin of Entomological Research), “Carrasco-Lozano EC et al. Identification of Dysmicoccus brevipes and its association with PMWaV-1, -2, and -3 in Hawaiiana cultivar and MD-2 hybrid pineapple in Peru. Bulletin of Entomological Research 115(5):537-544 (2025) (abstract).” doi.org/10.1017/S000748532510014X (accessed 2026-11-09)
- Sociedade Entomologica do Brasil (Neotropical Entomology), “Bertin A, Lerin S, Botton M, Parra JRP. Temperature thresholds and thermal requirements for development and survival of Dysmicoccus brevipes on table grapes. Neotropical Entomology 48(1):71-77 (2019) (abstract).” doi.org/10.1007/s13744-018-0623-6 (accessed 2026-11-09)
- iNaturalist, “Dysmicoccus brevipes taxon page (order and family).” www.inaturalist.org/taxa/330241 (accessed 2026-11-09)