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Cooperative Extension Ventura County

GWSS Photos


These pictures (except where otherwise noted) are by Phil A. Phillips, Area IPM Specialist Emeritus Ventura County and may be downloaded for your own use.

Adult
parasitoid
egg mass
Adult Glassy-winged Sharpshooter, Homalodisca coagulata, and Egg Mass (left). Photo by Jack Kelly Clark*.Glassy-winged Sharpshooter Parasitoid, Gonatocerus Ashmeadi. Exit Holes in Sharpshooter Egg Mass. Photo by Jack Kelly Clark*.Egg Mass of Glassy-winged Sharpshooter (~12x). Photo by Jack Kelly Clark*.
watery excretion
large numbers
multiple egg masses
Large drops of watery excretion are produced by each insect every couple of minutes during feeding.Large numbers of GWSS gather on host plant stems to feed.Multiple egg masses on Pittosporum leaf from April egg laying period.
egg mass
nymph
1st 3-4 hours
Egg mass ready to hatch. NOTE: eye spots of embroyos within egg.

Nymph nearly fully developed within the egg mass covering which has been torn off the leaf surface and turned upside-down for viewing 

1st stage (instar) nymph, 3-4 hours old. 

1st instar
2nd instar
3rd instar

1st instar nymph. 

2nd instar nymph. 

3rd instar nymph. 

3rd egg mass
 
2 parasitoids
 
ovipositing
 

3rd instar nymph next to egg mass. 

Two Gonatacerus ashmead: parasitoids attacking and laying their eggs into a fresh gwss egg mass.

G. ashmeadi ovipositing into a gwss egg mass. Note gwss excrement debris collected on the tips of the antennae of the parasite as she tapped her antennae over the egg mass while identifying it as a host for her eggs. 

feeding
4th instar
 
freshly emerged
 

GWSS adults feeding on crepemyrtle stem during the spring. 

4th instar GWSS nymph ready to molt.

Freshly emerged adult GWSS from last nymphal molt - note red veins in wings and light color of exoskeltin before hardening to its normal dark color.

feeding pump
underside
 
 

GWSS bulbous feeding pump and piercing stylet mouth parts. 

Colorful underside of GWSS adult.

 

*Jack Kelly Clark, Principal Photographer, University of California, Davis