Queen Pineapple - Major Insect Pest
Figure 1. Queen Pineapple fruit infested with PPMB
Description
- Pink pineapple mealybug, Dysmicoccus brevipes Cockerell (PPMB), is one of the major pests of pineapple [Ananas comosus (L.) Merrill].
- Belongs to Family Pseudococcidae and described as cottony, small, oval and soft-bodied sucking insect (Joy, et al., 2013).
- Feeds on the fruits, roots, stem, and leaves of the plant (Ceniza et al, 2018)
- Dispersed by ants (Joy et, 2013) because PPMB secreteS sweet and sticky liquid called honeydew as a by-product of its feeding (Rohrbach and Johnson, 2003).
- Distribution: Baybay City, Javier, Ormoc City, Villaba in Leyte; Silago in Southern Leyte; San Lorenzo in Camarines Norte (QP Project 4)