Psallovius piceicola

Appearance

Brownish black, hemelytra more brownish, antennae and base of cuneus pale.

Male: Length 3 mm., width i.o8 mm. Head: Width .6o mm., vertex at basal margin .34 mm., narrowest point on front .27 mm.; strongly inclined vertically, somewhat compressed; brownish black, pale yellowish pubescent. Rostrum, length I.i8 mm., extending behind posterior coxae, blackish, slightly paler on middle.
Antennae: Segment i, length .20 mm., thickness .057 mm., pale; ii, .66 mm., equal to thickness of segment i, slightly more slender at base, pale with a tinge of dusky, clothed with prominent pale to dusky pubescence; iii, .37 mm., dusky; iv, .34 mm., dusky.
Pronotum: Length .44 mm., width at base .9i mm.; dark brownish black, slightly shining, finely and closely yellowish pubescent, scale-like sericeous pubescence more evident on hemelytra.
Scutellum and mesoscutum brownish black, yellowish pubescent.
Sternum and pleura brownish black, the latter clothed with somewhat flattened, sericeous pale pubescence; ostiolar peritreme fuscous, anterior lobe bordering ostiole, pale.
Hemelytra: Embolar margins only very slightly arcuate; dark fusco-brownish to blackish, base of cuneus pale translucent, apex of embolium frequently pale; clothed with golden to dusky pubescence and intermixed with more closely appressed, silvery tomentose pubescence. Membrane pale fuscous, paler on middle and
bordering apex of cuneus, veins somewhat pale or tinged with reddish.
Legs: Dark brownish black, apices of femora and the tibiae, pale; tibial spines brownish to blackish, a fuscous spot at base of each, both spots and spines paler apically; tarsi pale to dusky, fuscous at apex. Venter brownish black with a tinge of reddish, somewhat shining, finely pale yellowish pubescent.

Female: Length 2.86 mm., width I.28 mm.; more robust than the male but very similar in coloration, hemelytra usually more brownish.
Antennae: Segment i, length .22 mm., thickness .os8 mm.; ii, .6o mm., nearly attaining the thickness of segment i but slightly more slender on basal half, clothed with prominent dusky pubescence; iii, .47 mm., slender; iv, .3I mm.; uniformly pale but with a dusky tinge, dusky pubescent.

Naming

Psallovius piceicola (Knight, 1923)
Psallus piceicola Knight, 1923

Distribution

Eastern US

Food

Usual host is spruce, but also breeds on Irish juniper. A fifth instar was collected in June on eastern arborvitae in Pennsylvania.