Solenopsis mealybug (Phenococcus solenopsis) has been a pest of cotton in Australia since initial outbreaks in Emerald and the Burdekin in 2009.

Solenopsis mealybug establishment onto cotton and the damage they inflicted at different plant development stages was studied in a glasshouse trial and through field observations.

DAFF Entomologists have found a parasitoid of the Solenopsis mealybug (Phenococcus solenopsis) from cotton at Byee in southern Qld. This is the first known record of this parasitoid in Australia.

Cotton seed and boll rots are caused by a number of organisms including fungi and bacteria. Recently we isolated the bacterium, Pantoea agglomerans, from rotten bolls.