Do you think there's pixie dust on your plants? You are wrong!! Those are mealybugs!

Mealybugs

The mealybug is one of the most common pests on our indoor plants. Its scientific name is currently Pseudococcus viburni (Signoret, 1875) (former name: Pseudococcus affinis) is a species of hemiptera insects of the superfamily Coccoidea, a plant parasite.

Its body is covered with a secretion of white, waxy filaments, resulting in a chemical fight with little success. It is one of the most difficult crop enemies to fight! Its damage is variable, as much as the form it can take to conceal itself.

Each female lays 300-500 eggs in a bag. After laying the eggs, which can take 5-10 days, the female dies. The young mealybugs, which are very mobile, disperse and seek the ideal place to suck the sap of a plant. Before reaching the adult stage, the mealybug undergoes three pupations (the nymph represents the intermediate stage of development between the larva and *the imago during the metamorphosis moults of holometabolous insects).

* In biology, the term imago (in the masculine) or imaginal stage designates the final stage of an individual whose development takes place in several phases (usually egg, larva, imago). *Wikipedia

Its life cycle is highly temperature dependent. It lasts 90 days when the temperature is 18°C ​​and 30 days when it is 30°C.