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I have never seen a psyllid on a mushroom; usually I find them on their host plants (they are parasites). I did not really see any plants nearby that are typical psyllid hosts, so I was intrigued to find it there. Cacopsylla sp.?
Mossy floor of a Sitka Spruce forest. Spotting of the mushroom: https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/13...
Spotted on Sep 8, 2019
Submitted on Oct 4, 2019
4 Comments
Thanks for your reply Gary. I think in general Alaska's land invertebrates are not as well documented just because there are fewer people here to study it, the sheer size of the state, and the diversity is so great. Also, much of our biology research seems more marine-focused.
Derbidaei is not well known from where I live (MN) but Psyllids are fairly well studied, in part I guess, because of their potential to injure ag crops.
Thanks for the suggestion Gary! Though they look similar, psyllids are from different families than planthoppers. Psyllids aren't well studied in Alaska so I have a feeling this won't be identified to genus for a while.
The immatures in family Derbidae feed on the juices in fungi. Looking at the features of the head I'd say this is probably not in Derbidaei.