Laurel Psyllid – Trioza alacris

Laurel Psyllid (Trioza alacris)

Latin Name: Trioza alacris

Common Name: Laurel Psyllid

Appearance:

• Laurel grew as an ornamental bush, particularly smallish plants trained into standards or pyramids and grown in pots or tubs.
• This psyllid overwinters on laurel and other evergreens like citrus, then restarts activity when the fresh laurel leaves emerge.

Territory:

Trioza alacris is only found in a few places at the time.

Damage insect caused by Trioza alacris:

Trioza alacris causes distorted terminals, galled leaves, stunted plant growth.

Description about Leafminers:

Leafminer adults are tiny flies that are 0.1 inches (2.5 mm) in length, are black to blue, and have yellow portions on their thorax, legs, and abdomen. At the base of the wings, there is usually a noticeable yellow area. The tiny white eggs are placed just beneath the epidermis of the leaf and hatch in 4 to 6 days. Pupation takes place in mines or underground. The life cycle takes roughly 23 days throughout the summer. Every year, there are three to five generations. Leafminers occasionally afflict beans.

In most cases, their deterioration happens around the end of the producing season. The larvae eat between the upper and lower leaf surfaces, resulting in large whitish blotches or, in the instance of serpentine leafminers, thin, white, winding trails into the leaf’s core. Leafminers generate dark, necrotic patches on the leaves of lima beans.

Life History and Habits:

The immature triozids caused galls on the attacked leaves composed of the congealed margins, which became folded downward, forming an elongated tube-shaped roll that sheltered the immatures. The psyllid in all phases of life (egg, immatures, and adults) was discovered on young bay laurel leaves.