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Photo#257815
Small Nymph on Sophora secuniflora

Small Nymph on Sophora secuniflora
Austin, Travis County, Texas, USA
March 10, 2009
Size: 2-4mm

Moved pending further investigation
Moved from Heteropsylla.

I don't know
This looks more like Platycorypha nigrivirga to me, though the host and location are both foreign. The species was first reported from the US from CA in 2009, on Tipuana tipu. Photos of nymphs available here and here. This does not look like any Heteropsylla nymph I've ever seen, either from photo or from Muddiman & Hodkinson's paper, which illustrates the nymphs for 22 of the 40 Heteropsylla sp. Furthermore, Heteropsylla are typically associated with Mimosoid legumes, with the exceptions occurring in the Caesalpiniodeae. Sophora secuniflora (=Dermatophyllum secundiflorum), on the other hand, is a Faboid (=Papilionoid) legume, as is Tipuana tipu. This subfamily of legumes is positively associated with Platycorypha.

Platycorypha, a neotropical genus, has not been recorded in the US outside of California. The hostplant that you report has not been recorded for any psyllid, though many spp. use Fabaceae (though mostly Mimosoid Fabaceae).

Diagnosis of Platycorypha adults is relatively easy, but nymphs are distinguished by a pointed sectaseta on the hindwing-pad. At the resolution of this photo, I cannot say for certain whether or not this seta is present. At any rate I would ascertain that this nymph is more closely related to Platycorypha than Heteropsylla. It may represent a state or US record, whatever it is, and I would encourage further investigations and collections from this host to help determine that.

 
Agreed.
This image is very similar, just a different color.


Prob. Heteropsylla --det. D.B. Thomas
his comment: "one of the common legume breeders"

Moved from Psylloidea.

Psyllid nymph
I don't know beyond family though.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/161823/bgimage

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