Bactericera dorsalis ( Crawford, 1914 )

Halbert, Susan E. & Burckhardt, Daniel, 2020, The psyllids (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) of Florida: newly established and rarely collected taxa and checklist, Insecta Mundi 2020 (788), pp. 1-88 : 54-55

Bactericera dorsalis ( Crawford, 1914)

( Fig. 149, 150 )

Materials examined. USA: Florida: Specimens from Hillsborough, Levy, Miami-Dade, and Pinellas counties; culture vouchers from the Gainesville DPI laboratory colony ( FSCA, dry and slide mounted).

Diagnosis. Description by Tuthill (1943, as Paratrioza dorsalis ). Separated from other Florida species of Bactericera as indicated in the key above. There is sexual dimorphism in the markings on the head. Males have a white line around the vertex like B. cockerelli , whereas females do not.

Distribution. USA (Arizona) ( Hodkinson 1988), USA (FL) (new record reported here).

Host plants. Lycium L. spp. ( Solanaceae ).

Comments. Bactericera dorsalis was documented for the first time in Florida in 1975. Specimens (currently at the USNM) were found on a “halophytic shrub” at St. Marks Wildlife Refuge, Wakulla Beach (Wakulla County), by J. Ray in June 1975. More specimens were found on Lycium carolinianum Walter (Solanaceae) in Cocoa Beach (Brevard County) by R. E. Burns on 29.ii.1984. More recently, specimens were found by DPI inspector Thomas Turner on Lycium carolinianum at Weedon Island State Park (Pinellas County) (FSCA#s E2002-152, 192, 224, 503, 522, 1020). The same inspector also collected specimens at Hammock Park near Dunedin (Pinellas County) (FSCA# E2002-253). There were other collections from Miami-Dade County (E2008-8234) and Levy County (E2014-210). This species can be cultured fairly easily on L. carolinianum and sometimes on Lycium barbarum L. Bactericera dorsalis was known previously from the western USA, but not from Florida. However, the plant is native, so we suspect that B. dorsalis is also native to Florida. It usually occurs in very low numbers on plants just above the reach of the tides. Although native, this species has not been reported formally before from Florida, probably because it usually occurs in such low numbers.

Figures

Figures 149, 150. Bactericera dorsalis. 149) Adult. 150) Immature. (Photos by Lyle Buss, University of Florida, Entomology Department: 149; Anthony Dickens, FDACS, DPI: 150).