Trioza urticae

Trioza urticae is a sap-sucking hemipteran bug in the family Triozidae which creates galls on the leaves of nettles (Urtica species). It was described by the Swedish biologist and physician, Carl Linnaeus in 1758.

Trioza urticae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hemiptera
Suborder:	Sternorrhyncha
Family:	Triozidae
Genus:	Trioza
Species:	T. urticae
Binomial name
Trioza urticae (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Chermes urticae Linnaeus, 1758

Description of the gall

Galls are most obvious in August and September, when young leaves at the top of a shoot, above the summer growth are hairy, crinkled and have depressions containing a flat psyllid nymph. Heavilly infested leaves are stunted and much darker than the unaffected leaves. There are two or three generations a year and psyllid populations are at their peak in the autumn; hence when the galls are easily seen. The autumn generation overwinters in turf or evergreens.^[1][2][3]

Host plants include common nettle (Urtica dioica), small nettle (Urtica urens) and Urtica membranacea.^[4]

Distribution

Found all over Europe.