Re: Red gum Eucalyptus Lerp Psyllid

David, et. al. (including cc's to SLO and SB County
Birders):

The redgum lerp psyllid, Glycaspis brimblecombei, is
the critter which I know to be the one and only euk
pysllid now in California.  There may be a new one but
I haven't heard about it.

Further info..

This type of psyllid forms a protective cover called a
"lerp" which makes older nymphs resemble armored
scales.  However, unlike scale coverings, the lerps
are composed mostly of crystallized honeydew (the
sugary fluid that homopteran insects excrete) and, in
this case, resemble small, white, hemispherical caps.

Oddly, for some reason, folks have taken to calling
this insect simply "lerp(s)".

The primary host of the redgum lerp psyllid is the
river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis); in addition,
sugar gum (E. cladocalyx) and white gum (E. viminalis)
trees are heavily infested in some locations. Lemon
gum (Eucalyptus citriodora), blue gum (E. globulus),
E. lehmannii, E. nicholii, and E. rudis can also
become infested in California.  Other species that may
be susceptible based on reports from Australia include
Eucalyptus blakelyi, E. bridgesiana, E. dealbata, E.
nitens,and E. tereticornis.  The actual and total host
range is not yet well known.

I've seen stands of E. globulus and E. sideroxylon
next to heavily infested groves of other species and
they themselves seem uninfected (at least not
noticeably).

It has become common here in the Santa Maria Valley,
and probably in surrounding areas.

There is work currently being done with an introduced
parisitoid wasp as a biological control in Los
Angeles.  I think they started barely a year ago, so
"results" are not yet in.

Joe Seals
Santa Maria
--- david feix <davidfeix@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> Regarding the Eucalyptus topic, I am also hearing
> from
> other landscape designers that there is a new
> psyllid
> in California called the Red Lerp Psyllid, which has
> become quite a pest lately, but have yet to see any
> of
> this in my neighborhood.  Apparently it is most
> common
> on Eucalyptus camaldulensis, but there is rumored to
> be another species of psyllid also attacking
> Eucalyptus citriodora in Southern California.  Do
> others here in California know what other species it
> has been attacking?  I hope they find a biological
> control for this new pest, or does anyone in
> Australia
> know of one that they could recommend?
> 
> Apparently it is common in the Sacramento Valley,
> has
> been found at Stanford University and Ardenwood Farm
> in Fremont?(or is it Newark/Union City?), but so far
> not found in San Francisco.  If anyone is interested
> in more info on this pest, go to
> www.commercialtree.com/whatsnew.htm, which is info
> posted by UC Berkeley on this new pest(at least new
> since spring 1998).  I hadn't heard of this as being
> a
> problem until just the other day...
> 
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