The adult female has a yellowish segmented, flattened oval body about two millimetres long covered with mealy wax.

[3] It has spread to certain Caribbean Islands, Hawaii and French Guiana,[4] and also to parts of Southeast Asia, including India, Indonesia and Thailand.

It has since been found in Texas and California and it is likely to become more widely distributed on the Gulf Coast, and perhaps also in crops grown under glass further north in the United States.

[2] The introduction of this species has caused damage to papaya cultivation in South India, especially in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Economically important host plants include papaya, avocado, citrus, mango, cherry and pomegranate, as well as hibiscus, cotton, tomato, eggplant, peppers, beans, peas and sweet potato.

[2] The papaya mealybug inserts its stylet into the epidermis of the leaf or the skin of fruit or stem and feeds on the plant sap.