Boreioglycaspis melaleucae Moore, 1964

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 : 25-27

Boreioglycaspis melaleucae Moore, 1964

( Fig. 93, 94 )

Materials examined. USA: Florida: Original permit voucher from Australia ( FSCA # 1997-3413), Florida specimens from Broward (site of original release), Brevard, DeSoto, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Miami-Dade Couty, Palm Beach, Pinellas, and Volusia counties ( FSCA, dry and slide mounted).

Diagnosis. Boreioglycaspis melaleucae is one of only two psyllids in Florida that have long genal processes that are 0.8 times the length of the vertex or longer ( Fig. 93 ). Boreioglycaspis melaleucae can be separated from Glycaspis brimblecombei by its shorter antennae, which are less than twice head width, and by the forewing venation: the branching of vein M of B. melaleucae is distal to the point at which Cu 1a intersects the edge of the wing (Wineriter

and Halbert 2002). Adults and immatures of Boreioglycaspis melaleucae colonies in the laboratory were tan in color (see photographs in Wineriter and Halbert 2002) but became bright orange after release in the field ( Fig. 93, 94 ).

Distribution. Australia, USA: FL (deliberately introduced for biological control), adventive in Puerto Rico and California ( Ouvrard 2020).

Comments. Boreioglycaspis melaleucae Moore , an Australian native species, was introduced deliberately to control Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) S.T. Blake (Myrtaceae) , a noxious weed in the Florida Everglades. Since the release in April 2002, the psyllids, specific to M. quinquenervia , have established large populations in several South Florida counties including Broward (FSCA# E2003-1926, 2067, 2262, 2263), Lee (FSCA# E2003-2208, 3609, E2004-433), Collier (FSCA# E2003-3034) and Miami-Dade (FSCA# E2003-6018, 6356, E2004-369). There have been suction trap collections in Miami (Miami-Dade County), beginning in October 2003 (FSCA# E2003- 5336). The suction trap in Immokalee (Collier County) also began collecting specimens in October 2003 (FSCA# E2003-5512, 5611). The suction traps in Winter Haven (Polk County) began collecting B. melaleucae in 2004, followed by consistent collections with numbers over 100 per sample sometimes occurring in spring and summer months. At least 2,500 specimens were collected in the Winter Haven suction traps. In Immokalee (Collier County), collections occurred in the spring (mostly March – June) and in some years there were collections in the fall and winter (October – January). Since 2013, numbers of the B. melaleucae population in Florida have diminished markedly for unknown reasons.

* Ctenarytaina Ferris and Klyver, 1932

Figures

Figures 92–96. Spondyliaspidinae. 92) Adult of Blastopsylla occidentalis. 93) Adult of Boreioglycaspis melaleucae. 94) Fifth instar immature of Boreioglycaspis melaleucae. 95) Adult and lerps of Glycaspis brimblecombei. 96) Infestation of Glycaspis brimblecombei. (Photos by Susan Wright, USDA, ARS: 92; Lyle Buss, Entomology Department, University of Florida: 93, 94; Susan Halbert: 95, 96).