Unidentified winged insect

Bruce Williams · #1 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 10:42 AM

Stockgrove Country Park, Beds - Yesterday (6th Dec). Length ~2.5mm excluding antennae and wing overlap (reasonably accurate estimate).

This was one of those occasions when I wished I'd taken my Nikon D80 with 105mm Macro lens instead of my Canon A650. This insect was so small that I could hardly make it out - even with my reading specs on. However by zooming in on the Canon's LCD I could see that it was an interesting insect but really just too small for the Canon to properly resolve.

Help with identification appreciated.

Bruce

Pudding4brains · #2 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 10:58 AM

Hi Bruce,

It's certainly a Psylloidea ("Psyllid"? "Jumping plant louse"??) - maybe check "British Bugs" or psyllids.org for more info/images.

Cheers, Arp

Pudding4brains · #3 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 01:21 PM

Could not resist to puzzle a little

According to this page it seems it would be family Triozidae and according to Fauna Europaea that would limit the choice of genera for Britain to Bactericera (6 species), Trichochermes (1 species: T. walkeri) and Trioza (some 14 species?).

British Bugs however lists 17 Trioza and none of either Bactericera or Trichochermes (?!) and although I tend to distrust FE-distribution data (usually somewhat erroneous) that much difference is a bit too much to give British Bugs a complete benefit of the doubt

However, if BB is correct I suppose this would make your beasty Trioza sp.?

Certainly Joe or Tristan will correct me shortly though

Cheers! Arp

P.S./Edit: Ah, I just noticed that most of the Bactericera listed by FE are in the genus Trioza on BB (Trichochermes walkeri not?) - clears that up, sort of. I'd say it makes your Bug a Trioza sp. sensu British Bugs

Bruce Williams · #4 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 06:49 PM

Arp - Thanks for your help with this one - I really do appreciate the effort you've put in to narrowing it down to a Trioza sp..

Thanks for the interesting/helpful links too

.

Bruce

poschiavanus · #5 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 07:06 PM

A couple of remarks:

Trichochermes walkeri. Certainly is on the British List, causes leaf-roll galls on Purging Buckthorn. All recent galls I've seen (October) were empty. According to Stresemann this species has brown flecked wings (predominantly if the illustration is representative), and 8 segmented antennae.
Possible host plants may tie it down a bit. Trioza remota forms small galls on oak leafs, which are like minute pimples. Lots of these still frequented by nymphs in October. T. urticae is found on nettles.

Several species overwinter as adults usually on conifers.

posch

Acutipuerilis · #6 (**permalink**) 07-12-2008, 07:22 PM

Hi Folks,
Psyllids are one of the really poorly-known groups, as you probably know... The BB list is based on Hodkinson and White's HIBI key, and is definitely outdated. However, there is a tendency for European workers to split up homopteran genera more than we have done here - probably through having more species to deal with! As a result, many species that are in Trioza or Psylla on BB are placed in separate genera on European sites.

The BB psyllids page is in its infancy, and I'm trying to get somewhere with the group at the moment; I'll shortly revise the genera, I think, to go with the European classification - if nothing else, because the references are more useful!

This species is a tricky one; I've just found it myself, and am trying to work out what it is. Can't be sure from photos, but I took couple of specimens for dissection, and when I get a chance I'll see what they turn out to be... hopefully!

They're a wonderful group, though, and so poorly known in the UK that the British list is almost certainly very incomplete. Worth looking out for. Bruce, I found mine on Scots Pine on a heath (overwintering on them, no doubt, so probably not the host plant). Was it near a conifer in yours too?

Toodle-pip,
Joe

Bruce Williams · #7 (**permalink**) 08-12-2008, 04:02 PM

posch and Joe - Thanks for the interesting info. I'll be keeping a close eye out for more Psyllids from now on.

Bruce

Acutipuerilis · #8 (**permalink**) 09-12-2008, 06:30 AM

Assuming you've got the same as me, Bruce (and it certainly looks like it), it's Trioza remota. As posch says, they form galls on oak, but they overwinter on conifers, and they're one of the more common ones.

nutmeg · #9 (**permalink**) 09-12-2008, 06:44 AM

This thread reminded me of some photos I had from October 07 of the exuvium of what I was told was Trioza remota on oak. I was out gall hunting with my Dad at Whisby, Lincs, and he gave me the ID.