''Trioza adventicia'', commonly known as the syzygium leaf psyllid, lillypilly psyllid, or eugenia psyllid, is a sap-sucking

hemiptera Hemiptera (; ) is an order (biology), order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, Reduviidae, assassin bugs, Cimex, bed bugs, and shield bugs. ...

n bug in the family

Triozidae Triozidae is one of seven families collectively referred to as jumping plant lice. They have traditionally been considered part of a single family, Psyllidae, but recent classifications divide the group into a total of seven families; most of th ...

which creates

gall Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...

s on the leaves of ''

Syzygium paniculatum ''Syzygium paniculatum'', the magenta lilly pilly or magenta cherry, is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae, native to New South Wales, Australia. A broad dense bushy rainforest tree, in cultivation it grows to a height o ...

''. This species is native to eastern Australia and has been introduced into California, southern Australia, and New Zealand. The nymphs form pit galls in the leaves and stunt the plant's growth. ''Trioza adventicia'' was for decades identified as '' Trioza eugeniae'' Froggatt 1901 in the

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

industry, in the field of

biological pest control Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, such as insects, mites, weeds, and plant diseases, using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also invo ...

in the United States, and in its native eastern Australia, resulting in a large body of

academic literature Academic publishing is the subfield of publishing which distributes academic research and scholarship. Most academic work is published in academic journal articles, books or theses. The part of academic written output that is not formally pub ...

—and an even larger number of

horticultural Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

resources—using the latter name for the present species. Using multiple lines of morphological evidence and

DNA barcoding DNA barcoding is a method of species identification using a short section of DNA from a specific gene or genes. The premise of DNA barcoding is that by comparison with a reference library of such DNA sections (also called "sequences"), an indiv ...

, a 2019 study confirmed that ''T. adventicia'' and ''T. eugeniae'' are distinct species, and determined that the widespread introduced species on ''Syzygium paniculatum'' that had long been known as ''T. eugeniae'' is in fact ''T. adventicia''. The true ''T. eugeniae'' is only known to occur in a small region of southeastern Australia.

References

Sternorrhyncha {{hemiptera-stub