Psyllidae - psyllids or jumping plant lice

All images on this website have been taken in Leicestershire and Rutland by NatureSpot members. We welcome new contributions - just register and use the Submit Records form to post your photos. Click on any image below to visit the species page. The RED / AMBER / GREEN dots indicate how easy it is to identify the species - see our Identification Difficulty page for more information. A coloured rating followed by an exclamation mark denotes that different ID difficulties apply to either males and females or to the larvae - see the species page for more detail.

Bugs

Insects in the order Hemiptera are the 'true bugs'. They are unique amongst insects in having their mouthparts formed into a piercing beak or 'rostrum', used to suck juices from plants or other animals. Their life cycles do not have a larval and pupal stage; instead, juvenile bugs have a series of nymph-stages or 'instars', which progressively have more adult-like characteristics. Hemiptera are divided into distinct sub-orders:

Heteroptera include the shield-bugs, plant bugs, ground bugs, water bugs and allied families. These have a thickened and opaque basal part to their forewings, with a transparent outer part.
Auchenorrhyncha are the leafhoppers, planthoppers, cicadas and allies. Some authorities divide this into two separate sub-orders: Cicadamorpha and Fulgoromorpha. Many have enlarged back legs and can jump.
Sternorrhyncha are aphids, psyllids and allies.

Identification help

Facebook group: UK Hemiptera

Facebook group: Aphids, Psyllids, Scales & allies (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha)

Leicestershire and Rutland resources (click to expand)

LESOPS 27 - A Two Year Study of Water Bugs at Priory Water, Leicestershire - (2011) Tony Cook, Frank Clark
LESOPS 63 - VC55 Terrestrial Heteroptera. Part 1: Recorders and Recording (2024) Sue Timms, Kate Nightingale & Alan Cann
LESOPS 64 - VC55 Terrestrial Heteroptera. Part 2: Provisional Checklist (2024) Sue Timms, Kate Nightingale & Alan Cann
LESOPS 67 - Checklist of aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera in VC55 (2025) Sue Timms, Kate Nightingale & Alan Cann

Other useful websites and publication (click to expand)

The British Bugs web site is one of the best of all online wildlife guides. If you are unsure which part of the insect the description refers to, see https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/bug_bits.html
Identifying common British aphids - very useful photo guide with excellent ID information.
Video: Introduction to UK True Bugs from The Tanyptera Project.
LRES video: Water bugs and their allies
Aquatic Heteroptera Recording Scheme website: https://aquaticbugs.com
The Influential Points website is an excellent source of information about aphids https://influentialpoints.com/

If you know of other websites or books that you would recommend, do let us know: info@naturespot.org

Aphids, Psyllids and allies (Sternorrhyncha)

Facebook group for Aphids, Psyllids, Scales & allies (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha)
The 'Influential Points' website https://influentialpoints.com/Index.htm has images and descriptions of UK aphids and related species. The site is managed by Bob Dransfield and Bob Brightwell (website checked 03/10/2026).
Emerson, J. 2026. Psyllids of Norfolk. Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists' Society. The is a very helpful and informative guide from the Norfolk County Recorder for psyllids, covering species that may also be found in VC55.
Hodkinson, I.D. & White, I.M. 1979. Psylloidea. RES Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects 5(2). Although this does not include some species now present in the UK, the keys and supplemetray information are very useful. It is downloadable from the Royal Entomological Society's website https://www.royensoc.co.uk/publications/out-of-print-handbooks/page/8/
Blackman, R. (2010) Hemiptera: Aphids - Aphidinae (Macrosiphoni) (Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects 2/7). RES
Blackman,R., Dransfield, R.D. & Brightwell, R. (2019) Aphids - Anoeciinae, Lachninae, Eriosomatinae, Phyloemyzinae, Thelazinae, Hormaphildinae, Mindarinae (Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects 2/8). RES.British Bugs website has a gallery of some psyllids. https://britishbugs.org.uk/gallery/Psylloidea/psylloidea.html
British Bugs website has a gallery of Psyllids and related species https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/gallery/Psylloidea/psylloidea.html and a checklist of UK Psylloidea https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/systematic_psy.html

Psyllidae - psyllids or jumping plant lice

'Psyllids' are in the superfamily Psylloidea, comprising several other families as well as Psyllidae. A key to adult insects can be downloaded from the Royal Entomological Society (Hodkinson. I.D. & White, I.M. (1979) Homoptera - Psylloidea. RES)

Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists' Society has produced a very helpful guide (Emerson, J. (2024) Psyllids of Norfolk. N&NNS)

Gall-causing psyllids are descibed in Redfern, M. & Shirley, P. 2023. British Plant Galls. FSC

British Bugs website has a gallery page of adult insects

Arytaina genistae
Broom Psyllid
Baeopelma foersteri

on alder
Cacopsylla fulguralis
Eleagnus Sucker
Cacopsylla fulguralis
Eleagnus Sucker
Cacopsylla peregrina

Nymph, with brown streaks on wing buds; on hawthorn
Chamaepsylla hartigi
Psylla alni sensu lato

nymph covered in fluffy wax
Psylla alni sensu lato
Psylla alni sensu lato

Red-brown late summer/autumn colouration
Psylla buxi
Box Sucker
gall on Box
Psylla buxi
Box Sucker
nymphs and wax inside curled leaves
Spanioneura fonscolombii

from Buxus (Box)
Spanioneura fonscolombii

male; from Buxus (Box)