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These rough pale green galls were seen on the upper surface of a eucalyptus leaf. The galls appear fused on the upper surface but the underside of the leaf showed separate globular structures with star shaped splits in the middle of some (pic #5) and wider openings on others with dried margins (pic #4). The leaf margins were deformed by the galls.
On Eucalyptus tree - ? species.
Thanks to martinl for ID suggestions - Psyllid gall. It would be easier perhaps to narrow down the identity of these gall architects if the species of the host tree was known. I had previously assumed that these were caused by gall wasps - ? Ophelimus species.
Spotted on Feb 7, 2013
Submitted on Feb 12, 2013
4 Comments
Interesting. The best thing to do, of course, is toss the leaf in a jar and see what comes out. I am guessing that these are some type of Homopteran - psyllids or soft scales or something similar. I personally suspect that the largest single group of gall inducers on Eucalyptus are chalcids in the family Eulophidae (the family that includes Ophelimus), but these do not look like eulophid galls to me. One thing is the opening in the gall on the underside of the leaf. Not seen in the chalcid wasps I know about - although you might see a nice round exit hole from where the wasp emerges.
These are definitely not Apiomorpha galls - which are much larger.
Great spotting Leuba!
Martin Thanks again. I found galls similar to yours last November and I am happy to now have a possible ID.
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/157...
So you think the spotting in my link ( above) and this spotting are caused by the Apiomorpha.. would you consider chalcidoid wasps at all??
I think these are related Leuba, green lumps on one surface and opening on the other. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/177... I expect psyllid insects in these although the white contents were extremely hard to identify. I think soft fleshy hollow galls with openings are psyllids and woody hollow larger galls with openings are apiomorpha.