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Photo#245465
Aphids or psyllids? - Aphis rubifolii

Aphids or psyllids? - Aphis rubifolii
Pelham, Butter Hill Wildlife Sanctuary, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, USA
September 15, 2007
Size: 1-2 mm
I promise I will frass this horrendous image as soon as I get an answer... These nymphs (attended by ants) were inside a blackberry leaf that was distorted by their feeding. At the time I assumed they were aphids, but just now in trying to determine what sort of aphid(s) do this to blackberry leaves, I came across a reference to a psyllid (Trioza tripunctata) that does this (and no clear references to aphids doing the same). Could these be psyllids? Some of them appear to have cornicles; does that rule out psyllids? I also don't see any images of psyllids with antennae that point backwards like this...

Moved
Moved from Aphids. This can be frassed when someone comes up with some decent images for this species... I just determined that Aphis rubifolii (called Cerosipha rubifolii in this reference) is the species that "causes a gall-like twisting of the leaves of blackberry."

Aphids.
Psyllid nymphs are more flattened in appearance, if I recall correctly, and I believe you are right about the cornicles, too. Moving to family page for now. Many (most?) aphids have alternate hosts, so the blackberry may not be the primary host.

 
Thanks
I will leave this here for a while, in case an aphid specialist happens to make a visit, but if some big clean-up of the aphid section happens, I don't mind if this one gets frassed.