2017 to-date psyllid statistics

In 2016 there were 384 North American psyllid observations totaling 73 total species (across both BugGuide and iNaturalist, ignoring duplicates), blowing away 2015's record of 148 observations of 42 total species. Can we beat that record in 2017?

4 months into 2017, and collectively there have been 148 observations of 36 species so far. Of those 36, four species have never been photographed prior. Statistically, May and June are the best two months for psyllids (averaging 55 species per month across all years), so numbers are likely to increase in the next two months. Here are some other statistics:

Most observed species

Species Unique contributors Total observations
Glycaspis brimblecombei 9 20
Pachypsylla venusta 7 8
Ctenarytaina eucalypti 6 10
Trioza eugeniae 5 11
Ctenarytaina spatulata 5 6
Pachypsylla celtidismamma 5 5
Baeoalitriozus diospyri 4 4
Cacopsylla curta 3 15
Calophya californica 3 6
Bactericera cockerelli 3 4
Calophya schini 3 4
Unsurprisingly, the species at the top are the ones that make the most conspicuous lerps/galls, while more inconspicuous psyllids including many native species are near the bottom.

Observations per state

State Observations Total species
California 103 22
Texas 20 6
Arizona 15 4
Tennessee 4 4
Of course, psyllid season starts a lot sooner in the southwest and some species can be found year-round in California. Observations from the east should start picking up soon.

Top Observers

Person Total species Total observations
Chris Mallory 10 24
James Bailey 8 11
Alice Abela 6 12
Jesse Rorabaugh 6 11
Salvador Vitanza 5 15
Rebecca Marschall 4 9
Ron Matsumoto 3 10
Maybe there should be a prize for whoever records the most species at the end of year? :P

Misc.

55% of observations represent native species
45% of observations represent introduced species
99% of observations identified to at least genus (compared to 97% average from previous years)
95% of observations identified to species (compared to 81% average from previous years)

New species for 2017

Trioza phoradendri first found by Jesse Rorabaugh in CA
Cacopsylla nigranervosa first found by Alice Abela in CA
Leuronota maculata first found by Salvador Vitanza in AZ
Aphalaroida spinifera first found by Salvador Vitanza in AZ
In 2016 there were 17 species recorded that had not been photographed prior. I think that number may be untouchable this year, but who knows!

I'm sure I'm probably the only person that cares about these statistics. But, at least I'm not the only one who cares about these insects, or at least cares enough about them to photograph them :)
Posted on 27 de abril de 2017, 03:19 AM by psyllidhipster psyllidhipster

Comentários

Well, now I at least know what they look like! I can't imagine having trouble getting another dozen.

Publicado por glmory quase 7 anos antes

Are there any species associated with vernal pools? (if you know of any other terrestrial invertebrates that might hang around such habitats, and are endemic to those areas, let me know).

Publicado por silversea_starsong quase 7 anos antes

Hmmm, not particularly. Or at least, nothing specific to plants specific to vernal pools. A few species are associated with plants typical of other types of wetlands, such as Livia spp. on Carex and Juncus, Aphalara spp. on Persicaria & Rumex, and Bactericera & Cacopsylla spp. on Salix. But that's about it I'd say.

Publicado por psyllidhipster quase 7 anos antes

So no Livia on Eleocharis yet? I can check some of the little Persicaria plants. Are Aphalara on non-native Rumex too (i.e. crispus)?

Publicado por silversea_starsong quase 7 anos antes

If there's anything on Eleocharis, nobody knows about it yet :) For our Rumex psyllid, I have records from both native species such as Rumex conglomeratus as well as non-native R. crispus.

As promised here's a list of our native California psyllids, their host plants, and some other data. It's a draft copy, and it's incomplete and not ready for prime time... but all the species and their hosts are there so that's better than nothing. If you go to Data > Filter Views, there are some useful functions for visualizing the data, such as sorting by the host, hiding species not present in certain regions (but note that the data is incomplete for that), or showing only species that have been commonly/rarely collected, etc. Hopefully you may find it useful despite its incompleteness.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ysw7MG4gv1gcJLaBdV0L1B5bpCRV4CyUnY4QdjZDPSY/edit?usp=sharing

Publicado por psyllidhipster quase 7 anos antes
Publicado por psyllidhipster quase 7 anos antes

Awesome spreadsheets, Chris! Thanks for sharing!

Publicado por bbunny quase 7 anos antes

I'm beginning to doubt the existence of psyllids on Artemisia californica! I've looked over and shaken up so many of these from all over Southern CA, including on Santa Cruz, and nada.

Publicado por silversea_starsong quase 7 anos antes

Your results mirror mine so far. Checked a bunch of sagebrush in the santa monica mountains yesterday and came up with nothing psyllid-wise.

Perhaps Artemisia tridentata may be more lucrative. At least with that plant, there are confirmed records of nymphs as well as adults, so the host confirmation is definite.

Publicado por psyllidhipster quase 7 anos antes

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