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Stanford's Whitefly (Tetraleurodes perileuca)

Stanford's whitefly (Tetraleurodes perileuca) is an insect most easily identified in its pupal stage, when it appears as a tiny black dot with a white margin. High magnification lenses, however, reveal that this tiny black dot actually features an elaborate design reminiscent of a scorpion, a trilobite, or perhaps something imagined by the Swiss artist, H.R. Giger! It is not uncommon to observe an iridescent sheen — a wonderfully colorful side effect of this organism's wax secretions. The white periphery is also comprised of wax and is believed to help ward off predators and keep the pupa affixed to the host leaf.


Stanford's whitefly (Tetraleurodes perileuca), highly detailed close-up of a single pupa on the leaf of a coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia). Focus-stacked composite of 125 exposures at 10x lifesize. Vacaville, Solano County, California, USA.
INS0105

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All images copyright Timothy Boomer. All rights reserved worldwide.