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Project Noah Nature School
Acizzia uncatoides
This series shows a few different stages of this insect. These are tiny! The one in the first image was barely 3 mm long. The second image is of a male "hugging" a female. These were all on the same limb of the tree. This species is the only Phyllid found on an Acacia tree. "The psyllid and its host plant are native to Australia, but both are now widespread where the plant has been introduced. The psyllid can reproduce to very high numbers, but appears not to damage the plant." - Wikipedia
Acacia baileyana tree in the backyard. Per our own Ranger, Martin: this Phyllid is only found on Acacia baileyana.
First confirmed spotting of this species on BugGuide!
That would make sense since I didn't see any but I'll still take a look tomorrow. Thank you so much for your help! I almost didn't take a photo since they just looked like specs on the leaf.
I believe some are free living as nymphs and build no house or scale or gall. This is likely to be one of them.
Following Marks reference, there is a list of host plants for psyllids. Of over 850 species, only one lives on Acacia. It is number 757. Well done, you found it.
http://www.psyllids.org/db/triozidae.php...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Acizzi...
I didn't think about it being a host. The nearest Gum is 18 meters away.
I think they are host specialists so the acacia might become important... unless they fell out of an overhanging gum tree :)
Thank you Martin! I was surprised to hear these are psyllids as there weren't any visible scales or galls. We have the Red Gum Lerp Psyllids on our Gum trees where the scales are clearly visible. I'll check for galls again tomorrow. Great selection of examples!
I agree with psyllid but wouldn't guess a genus. Nymphs live under scales or in galls. Adults have shorter antennae than bark lice. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/112...
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/144...
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/866...
Thanks Sergio! This one had me confused. BugGuide just placed it in Psyllid but they haven't placed it in a genus yet. I didn't realize how similar Psyllid and Bark lice were.
Spotted on Jan 27, 2013
Submitted on Jan 28, 2013
+1
