Lerps are shelters produced by immature bugs of the family Psyllidae. Each species of ‘lerp insect’ produces its own design; this one belongs to Cardiaspina textrix.
By Kim Pullen
Psyllids are small bugs with soft, vulnerable bodies, so how do they escape predators? Adult psyllids can jump and fly out of harm’s way – that’s why they are sometimes called ‘jumping plant lice’.
But the immature – nymphs – can neither jump nor fly. So many Australian species find protection under a cover they produce from their own secretion of honeydew, a carbohydrate-rich liquid that hardens on contact with air.
These ‘lerps’ find exquisite shapes and forms, sometimes resembling miniature cockleshells, or with wispy white threads.
Psyllids are sap suckers and their feeding can damage plant tissue. Periodic outbreaks on eucalypts can discolour the whole canopy; if severe attacks continue, the tree may die.
29th August 2013 at 5:28 pm
I’ve been impressed with the recovery by some gums from a severe attack. I even had one tree that seemed to know it was in trouble and suddenly just dumped all it’s leaves over a day or two. I thought it might be about to die but it rapidly pushed out a full new set of clean leaves within a few of weeks. Clever tree.