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Photo#303903
Unknown eggs on leaf of redbud tree

Unknown eggs on leaf of redbud tree
Cary, Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve, bottomlands by Swift Creek, Wake County, North Carolina, USA
May 15, 2009
These eggs seem to be what distorted the leaf of the Cercis canadensis. No other leaves were distorted. The eggs are pearly white. No other leaves had eggs on this or nearby young trees.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Probably
leaf-footed bug (Coreidae) eggs. I don't think they could have caused the distortion; perhaps the bug that laid them was attracted to the distorted leaf for some reason. Distortion like this could be caused by aphids or something similar feeding on the underside of the leaf--did you happen to look there?

 
No other leaf distortion or sign of aphids
I did not see anything unusual on either side of any other leaves of this or other waist-high Cercis trees or larger trees except that some of the youngest leaves had been chewed away. You can see a wider view in photos #43-46 on screencast.com in the Hemlock Bluffs folder:
http://www.screencast.com/t/fsIeiEThtuD

Your upcoming book sounds like just what I need.

 
It's possible...
that this distortion could have been caused by a fairly small amount of feeding when the leaf was young and tender, still expanding. This sort of damage is hard to identify for sure without finding exuviae (shed skins) associated with it. It could even be that it was caused by mechanical damage to the bud, or perhaps some sort of pathogen. If it was caused by an insect, it would be something with piercing-sucking mouthparts (Hemiptera), not related to the chewed leaves you saw.

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