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Psyllids attacked by ladybird larva

Cardiaspina sp.

Description:

A tiny, sap sucking, psyllid nymph lives beneath a beautiful fan-shaped sugary lerp. One day a ladybird larva wiped out the entire colony. It lifts the edge of the lerp and wheedles out the bug inside. Each lerp is about 6mm wide. Some can be seen intact with the nymph visible through the semi-transparent lerp. One which is about to be attacked (pic 1) by the ladybug larva seems to have moved right to the far side, as if it lnows the danger.

Habitat:

Eucalyptus leaves.. (E melliodora?) This was a small plant 1 metre tall with many stems. Every leaf on the plant was severely discoloured by the action of the psyllids.

Notes:

These particular structures are commonly called 'Basket lerps'. Lerps are protective covers made by nymphs of psyllids. They excrete 'honeydew' which crystallises to form lerps. Adults can be seen in pics 2,3 There are about 4 species which make similar lerps but each with subtly different 'weaves'.
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/226...
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:b... http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/forestry/forest...
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/145...
http://m.dpi.vic.gov.au/forestry/pests-d...
http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_...

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2 Comments

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 10 years ago

Thanks Martin.

MartinL
MartinL 10 years ago

That is an excellent spotting ArgyBee. It seems several adults have emerged before the Coccinellid killer arrived. The snaps are very clear.
This site suggests three of the 24 species of Cardiaspina if you dare to look closer, but none of them were sourced from Victoria. I hope we don't need tape recorders to identify them =) http://www.psyllids.org/CardiaspinaSOUND...

Mark Ridgway
Spotted by
Mark Ridgway

Victoria, Australia

Spotted on May 12, 2013
Submitted on May 13, 2013

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