MEALYBUGS
    Mealybugs are members of the order Homoptera, family Pseudococcidae; they are really soft scales with small, oval, soft, segmented bodies dusted all over with white powder and often have long radiating threads of the same secretion around the margin of the body. The mouth parts of mealybugs are of the piercing, sucking type; they injure plants by sucking sap. Mealybugs have gradual metamorphosis.

Citrophilus Mealybug (Pseudococcus fragilis): This mealybug has two tapering filaments at the end of the body and are 1/3 the length of the body. The fluid within the body is darker than in other mealybugs; the waxy coating on the outside of the body is scarce in four areas which resemble four longitudinal lines.

Citrus Mealybug (Planococcus citri): Similar to the citrophilus mealybug, but the powder over the back of the citrus mealybug is very dense, the filaments are about equal length around the body, and no longitudinal lines can be seen on the back.

Grape Mealbug (Pseudococcus maritimus): Similar to the citrus mealybug; the filaments are about equal length around the body. This mealybug can be found on a few vegetables

Ground Mealybug (Rhizoecus falcifer): This mealybug is smaller than average, lacks the wax rods and filaments, and is uniformly covered with white waxy powder; it feeds on terminal or outer roots of plants.

Mexican Mealybug (Phenacoccus gossypii): This mealybug is blue-gray, short tailed, covered with a thin powder, and has posterior filaments that are 1/4 the length of the body; it may feed on leaves, stems, and flowers.

Solanum Mealybug (Pseudococcus solani): This mealybug is pale yellow and sparsely covered with a fine white powder; it can be found on a few vegetables.

Mites aren't true insects; they belong to the animal class Arachnida, order Acarina. They differ from true insects by having four pairs of legs instead of three, lacking antennae, true jaws and compound eyes, and in having only two body regions instead of three; mites are also unsegmented. Mites that feed on plants are usually oval, very small, and variable in color.

Mites in a web

Mite damage

Bulb Mite (Rhizoglyphus echinopus): This mite is 1/50 to 1/25 inch long, whitish with six or eight brownish or pinkish legs, and barely visible the naked eye; it injures bulbs of various species of plants.

Carmine Spider Mite (Tetranychus cinnabarinus): Similar to the twospotted spider mite, but is carmine in color; it has more of a southern distribution, but it can be found elsewhere.

Cyclamen Mite (Steneotarsonemus pallidus): This mite cannot be seen with the naked eye. Young cyclamen mites are white or pale green, 1/100 inch long, and have six or eight legs; adult mites are orange-pink, shiny, about 1/100 inch long, and have eight legs.

Pacific Spider Mite (Tetranychus pacificus): This mite resembles the twospotted mite and makes similar webs.

Sixspotted Mite (Eotetranychus sexmaculatus): This mite is a lemon yellow color and has blackish spots grouped in three blotches along each side of the body. These mites occur in colonies on the underside of leaves, usually near veins; veins are often depressed and covered with webs.

Strawberry Spider Mite (Tetranychus urticae): Nymphs and adult females cause damage to a wide variety of plants. Nymphs are first greenish with a black spot on each side of the body; later, they become straw colored with larger lateral spots. Adult females are straw colored, green, brownish, or almost black with two to four black spots. This mite feeds in colonies, primarily on the under surfaces of leaves; heavy infestations produce enough webbing to cause the leaves and stems to become matted together.

Tomato Russet Mite (Aculops lycopersici): This mite is orange-yellow and rather robust. The injury caused by this mite is usually a bronzing or russeting of the leaves and stems; later, entire leaves may turn brown. Fruit may be attacked when mite populations are high.

Tumid Spider Mite (Tetranychus tumidus): Resembles the carmine spider mite. Injury to plants appears as a reddening of the upper leaf surface; the reddened area may be a small blotch or several such blotches that often encompass the entire leaf surface, eventually resulting in complete defoliation of affected plants.

Twospotted Spider Mite or Red Spider Mite (Tetranychus urticae): This mite has an oval body and is yellow or greenish with two dark spots on the back; also, the body of the mite is very small and is sparsely covered with spines. This mite forms cobwebs on the under surface of leaves and from one leaf to another.

Abutilon Moth (Anomis erosa): Also known as the okra caterpillar. Caterpillars are light green and grow up to 1 3/8 inches in length; they are similar to the cabbage looper in appearance.

Artichoke Plume Moth (Platyptilia carduidactyla): Adult moths are brown, large, and have divided (plumed) wings that are 1 inch across. Caterpillars feed on the artichoke head, but foliage, leaf stalks, stems, and buds may be eaten.

Diamondback Moth (Plutella xylostella): Adult moths are small, with brown or gray wings and white marks that form a diamond when the wings are folded; the wingspread is around 3/4 inch and the hind wings are fringed. Larvae are greenish-yellow with black hairs and around 1/3 inch long; larvae feed on the foliage of several brassicas.

Pea Moth (Laspeyresia nigricana): Adult moths are brown with short black and white oblique lines along the front margin of the forewings, very small, and have a wingspread of 1/2 inch. Caterpillars are yellowish-white with small dark spots and pale short hairs scattered over the body. Caterpillars feed in pods; affected pods turn yellow or ripen prematurely.
 

Whitelined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata): Adult moths have brown bodies marked with white and darker brown; the hind wings have a rosy band across the middle, whereas the forewings have a broad buff stripe and white-lined veins. Larvae are 2 1/2 - 3 inches long, usually green with a yellow head and horn and pale spots margined with black; but some larvae can be black with an orange head and horn and three yellow spots on the back.

Corn Planthopper (Peregrinus maidis): This planthopper is yellowish-green, around 1/6 inch long, has clear wings that are longer than the body with dark markings near the tip, and the antennae have thickened basal portions. They collect in large numbers near buds or in axils of leaves.

Potato Psyllid or Tomato Psyllid (Paratrioza cockerelli): Adults are first green, later turning black with white margins and around 1/8 inch long. Nymphs are flat, scalelike, first yellow or orange, then turning green with a fringe of hairs all around the body. Both adults and nymphs feed on foliage. Feeding by nymphs causes rolling or cupping of leaves and yellow or reddish leaves, which eventually kills or stunts affected plants and causes tiny malformed fruit to form.

Northern Corn Rootworm (Diabrotica longicornis): Adult beetles are of a uniform green to a yellowish-green and about 1/6 to 1/4 inch long. Larvae are white with yellowish-brown heads, wrinkled, thread-like, about 1/2 inch long, and have six small legs on the front part of the body; larvae eat small roots off plants and tunnel into large roots, making small brown tunnels; larvae are able to transmit bacterial wilt of corn.

Southern Corn Rootworm (Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi): The larvae of the spotted cucumber beetle. Adults are greenish-yellow beetles, approximately 1/4 inch long, and have 12 irregular black spots on their backs. Adult beetles feed on the foliage of several vegetables. Larvae are slender, white to cream colored, have a wrinkled body with three pairs of inconspicuous legs, and are 1/2 to 3/4 inch in length; the head and the last segment of the body are dark brown to black with the head being more narrow than the opposite end of the abdomen. Larvae tunnel out roots.

Western Corn Rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera): Similar to the northern corn rootworm.