Extension Specialist and Associate Department Head for the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University, David Kerns, Ph.D. leads a team of students searching for pasture mealybugs on Thursday, May 14, 2026 in College Station, Texas.

(Hannah Harrison/Texas A&M AgriLife) As Texas producers come to grips with the threat of New World screwworm, another new invasive pest - pasture mealybug - is casting a growing shadow over the state's forage and livestock industries, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts.

The pasture mealybug continues to spread rapidly across Texas, threatening pastures, hayfields and forage resources that underpin the state's $15. 5 billion cattle industry as well as the state's other pasture-based livestock industries.