Pachypsylla celtidis-mamma
Psylla celtidis-mamma
Pachypsylla rohweri
The, galls formed by this species occur on the leaves of hackberry, developmg into a more or less mammiform growth on the underside of the leaf. On the upper surface of the leaf a depression forms, cupping down into the gall. The shape of the gall itself is quite variable, often with a nipple-like tip, sometimes conical, glabrous or pubescent, etc. Usually they are monothalamous.
The adults emerge in the fall, overinter in crevices of bark, etc.; early In the spring they fly to the twigs, and after mating, the females begin to deposit eggs about as soon as the leaves begin to appear. The nymphs feed on the lower side of the leaves and are soon enclosed in the fall. There is but one generation per year, the nymphs reaching maturity in September.
The type of Pachypsylla rohweri Cockerell (No. 18476) is in the Natronal Museum and is m my opinion identical with celtidis-mamma
Riley, apparently assuming that the shape of a gall was an extremely accurate and highly constant specific character (even more so than the structure of the insect) proposed names for a species of Pachypsylla for each different shape of gall that he found. With these names he described the galls in detail but made no mention whatsoever of the insects. In a. preliminary statement, however, he said "the yet undescnbed species are all so closely allied to P. c-mamma that they can only be distinguished with difficulty." Elsewhere (Can. Ent. 15: 158) he says of one of them "P. c-mamma so closely resembles another species (P. c-cucurbita M. S. mihi), however, that without the galls it would be difficult if not impossible to separate them-a not uncommon occurrence among gall-making species." Anyone rearing these insects from the galls and not blinded by the above assumption of infallible gall specificity must soon come to the conclusions reached by Mally (1849) that, the shape and size of the gall is not at all constant . . . It was found that P. c.-mamma occurred in all the different variations, thus showing that these variations are not of specific importance." Fortunately, the series of names proposed by Riley stand as nomina nuda. Some few of them have cluttered up the literature of galls, however, and do until the present time.
I have seen specimens of this very abundant animal from, or definIte records are available of its occurrence in, the following states and provinces: Colorado, Texas, Arizona, Utah, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Ontario. It undoubtedly occurs, however, throughout the range of Its host species, hackberry (Celtis occidentalis L.).