Mealybugs do come from soil as ground mealybugs are soil dwelling insects which suck and feed on basal stems and roots and develop through 3 life stages.
The eggs hatch into nymphs which grow through several increasingly larger instars before they mature into adults.
The adult mealybugs grow up to 1/16 to 3/16 inch long.
Mealybugs do sometimes live in soil and can be found in some lawns.
Mealybugs can live in grass and I have noticed significant infestations of mealybugs in my grass.
Light infestations of mealybugs are also found in residential and commercial lawns including athletic fields, parks, pastures, hay fields, rights of ways and naturalized areas.
The natural predator of the mealybug includes the lady beetles, green and brown lacewings, spiders, minute pirate bugs, and larvae of predaceous midges.
Mealy Bugs turn into winged adult mealy bugs.
Some species of mealybugs give birth to live young.
And after several weeks, the nymphs develop into adults.
Male nymphs secrete a tiny, fluffy cocoon and develop into winged adults.
Mealybugs are a type of insect in the family Pseudococcidae, unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm habitats.
Of the more than 2000 described species of mealybugs, many are considered pests as they feed on plant juices of greenhouse plants, house plants and subtropical trees and also act as a vector for several plant diseases.
Mealybugs are not harmful to humans.
However, they can be harmful to plants because they feed on sap.
This leads to yellowing leaves, slower growth, and in extreme cases, death of the plant.
Mealybugs like lush foliage, so avoid over-fertilizing with excess nitrogen.
A citrus mealybug nymph crawls along a leaf.
If mealybugs are present on only a few, small plants, you can try to reduce or eliminate infestations by washing off the plants.
Ground mealybugs (family Rhizoecidae) are soil-dwelling insects that suck and feed on basal stems and roots.
They develop through three life stages.
Eggs hatch into nymphs that grow through several increasingly larger instars before maturing into adults.
Adults grow up to 1/16- to 3/16 inch long.
Mealybugs thrive in crevices between branches in the interior of the plant where it is hard to spray them.
Another issue is that one female can lay up to 600 eggs, quickly expanding their population.
Once mealybugs are found on a plant, it needs to be isolated from other plants to prevent the infestation from spreading.