Many plant species can support P. manihoti, but only cassava is known to experience significant damage by this insect pest. P. manihoti causes severe distortion of terminal shoots, curling of leaves, reduced internodes, stunting, and weakening of stems used for crop propagation. Almost 150 cassava cultivars are known to be susceptible to P. manihoti. In addition, no cultivars of cassava are known to be fully resistant. Interestingly, P. manihoti is a parthenogenetic insect, producing only female offspring. Therefore, a single adult female may be sufficient to start an outbreak . Under optimal conditions, individual adult females of P. manihoti can lay between 200 - 600 eggs within ovisacs on the undersides of cassava leaves and around apical and lateral buds. Subsequently, eggs hatch into mobile crawlers, which can spread over the plant or passively disperse to neighboring plants by wind.