The adult females phenacoleachiids are brownish-red and dusted with a white mealy powder and covered with a cottony wax. There are some coarse yellow curly threads and some short lateral filaments on the rear half of the abdomen. They have short legs and resemble mealybugs in appearance but are believed to be more closely related to the primitive
ortheziids and
margarodoids than to the higher scale families such as the
pseudococcids. The adult males are reddish-yellow, large than the females and covered with white mealy wax. They have two lateral filaments. The first
instars are yellowish-red covered with the same white mealy wax. ==Life cycle==