No idea - Eucalyptolyma maideni

Eucalyptolyma maideni (Spotte

Eucalyptolyma maideni (Spotted Gum Lerp Psyllid). Its an introduced species from Australia found on Lemon Gum and Spotted Gum. What your looking at is the "lerp", a protective shell of gelatinous honeydew. The nymph lives under the lerp.

… Dennis Haines, 28 February, 2009 - 5:13pm

Possibility?

I knew that I had seen an image similar to this one somewhere, but couldn't remember where. On a hunch, I thumbed through all the pages of Hogue's Insects of the Los Angeles Basin and finally found the photo I had been thinking of. So, what does everyone think of Lady Beetle larvae as a possibility? From briefly reading some of the comments on BugGuide, it seems as though the options would be something in the genus Scymnus or Cryptolaemus montrouzieri (Mealybug Destroyer). Curious to hear what others think...

Chris, I don't suppose you happened to see any adult beetles in the same area?

… Harsi S. Parker, 28 February, 2009 - 2:14pm

lady beetles

After reading your comment, I picked up my copy of Hogue's Insects of the LA Basin and flipped to the page in question, and I can definately see a sort of resemblance between these and C. montrouzieri larva, but I'm still not totally convinced; I probably should have added in my initial post that of the hundreds of these things on the leaves, none of them were mobile. All of them were seemingly plastered to the leaves, and some of which were covered in a honeydew-like liquid. There were adult lady beetles around, but I only observed 7-spotted and convergent beetles in the area. I do appreciate you looking into this mystery though!

… Chris Mallory, 28 February, 2009 - 2:33pm

Mobility

Yeah, the mobility issue is a pretty big one... that probably does make it unlikely that it was ladybird beetle larvae. So, maybe you were closer in guessing some sort of scale species? Oh well, I am definitely still such a novice at trying to ID stuff, but I always learn so much in the process that I never mind being wrong. I'll keep looking into it (thanks for the 2nd pic!)...

… Harsi S. Parker, 28 February, 2009 - 2:47pm

another picture

here is another shot of some more of these things from a different leaf: here

… Chris Mallory, 28 February, 2009 - 2:40pm

Video...

Found a very short film clip of a Mealybug Destroyer larva that I thought was pretty neat, if anyone else is interested...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LydnvdhrZ4A

… Harsi S. Parker, 28 February, 2009 - 2:25pm