Phil Bendle Collection:Psyllid (Jumping plant lice)

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Sternorrhyncha
Superfamily:Psylloidea
Family: Psyllidae
Scientific name Psyllids
Common name: Jumping Plant Lice, Lerp Insects.

Psyllids or jumping plant lice are tiny 1–2 mm plant-feeding insects that look like tiny plant hoppers except they have long antennae and strong legs. There over 50  species most of them are native.  They tend to be very "host specific" ie. they only feed on one plant species (monophagous) or feed on a few related plants (oligophagous). They feed on native and introduced species. They lay their eggs on or in plants and the hatched nymph feeds on the leaves creating bumps on the leaf. In New Zealand, they can be found on the following species. wattle, kowhai, broom, blue gum, pittosporum, native fuchsia, tree fern, pohutukawa and lacewood.

Bumps on leaves infested with Psyllids

Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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