Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#1214192
Mountain Mahogany Psyllid Nymph - Pexopsylla cercocarpi

Mountain Mahogany Psyllid Nymph - Pexopsylla cercocarpi
Burton Mesa Ecological Reserve, Santa Barbara County, California, USA
April 22, 2016
Size: ~2mm
Found on mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus betuloides); a pale green adult was found on the same plant

Moved
Moved from Psylloidea.

Pexopsylla cercocarpi
This confirms what I was starting to suspect. These very pubescent nymphs are very distinct among our fauna: note the small, black hairs mixed with very long, white hairs on the dorsum, as well as long hairs on the antennae and body margins. These are supposedly quite rare, and the only member of its genus - a new genus for BugGuide. Great find! As you might have expected, the pale green adults are the same species; the most notable feature of the adults are the very long (about 3x head width) striped antennae and the rather short rounded genae produced vertically. This is a California endemic, recorded from C. betuloides and C. ledifolius, with adults recorded throughout the year and nymphs from December to April.

 
Abundance
These guys were pretty uncommon, I've only found them on plants with a lot of lush new growth. They're on the undersides of the leaves rather than the stems and fruit like the Cacopsylla brevistigmata. I must have searched over a dozen bushes today and only saw the three adults and one live nymph. The adults were all on different plants. There was one adult on the same plant as the live nymph. I also found a dead nymph that appeared to have been parasitized.

 
abundance and parasitism
Your observations are pretty consistent with what Jensen observed when he described the species. Like you found, he notes that the nymphs occur on the undersides of leaves, and in only a few cases were more than two nymphs collected on a single leaf. Jensen also cites several examples of parasitism, and that at least three genera of parasitoids have been reared from the nymphs: Tetrastichus triozae, Prionomitus mitratus, & Psyllaephagus sp..

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.