Symbiosis is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction, between two organisms of different species. The two organisms, termed symbionts, can be either in a mutualistic, a commensalistic, or a parasitic relationship. In 1879, Heinrich Anton de Bary defined symbiosis as "the living together of unlike organisms".
The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, are a large and agriculturally important family of flowering plants. It includes trees, shrubs, and perennial or annual herbaceous plants, which are easily recognized by their fruit (legume) and their compound, stipulate leaves. The family is widely distributed, and is the third-largest land plant family in number of species, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with about 765 genera and nearly 20,000 known species.
Psyllidae, the jumping plant lice or psyllids, are a family of small plant-feeding insects that tend to be very host-specific, i.e. each plant-louse species only feeds on one plant species (monophagous) or feeds on a few closely related plants (oligophagous). Together with aphids, phylloxerans, scale insects and whiteflies, they form the group called Sternorrhyncha, which is considered to be the most "primitive" group within the true bugs (Hemiptera). They have traditionally been considered a single family, Psyllidae, but recent classifications divide the group into a total of seven families; the present restricted definition still includes more than 70 genera in the Psyllidae. Psyllid fossils have been found from the Early Permian before the flowering plants evolved. The explosive diversification of the flowering plants in the Cretaceous was paralleled by a massive diversification of associated insects, and many of the morphological and metabolic characters that the flowering plants exhibit may have evolved as defenses against herbivorous insects.
Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists, which in turn provide herbivore protection. Common nectar-consuming pollinators include mosquitoes, hoverflies, wasps, bees, butterflies and moths, hummingbirds, honeyeaters and bats. Nectar is an economically important substance as it is the sugar source for honey. It is also useful in agriculture and horticulture because the adult stages of some predatory insects feed on nectar. For example, a number of predacious or parasitoid wasps rely on nectar as a primary food source. In turn, these wasps then hunt agricultural pest insects as food for their young.
Palaemonidae is a family of shrimp in the order Decapoda. Many species are carnivores that eat small invertebrates, and can be found in any aquatic habitat except the deep sea. One significant genus is Macrobrachium, which contains commercially fished species. Others inhabit coral reefs, where they associate with certain invertebrates, such as sponges, cnidarians, mollusks, and echinoderms, as cleaner shrimps, parasites, or commensals. They generally feed on detritus, though some are carnivores and hunt tiny animals.
Cacopsylla is a genus of bugs known as jumping plant lice. It includes most of the subfamily Psyllinae harmful to fruit trees; for example, insects referred to by the common name "pear psyllids", can only develop on plants of the genus Pyrus.
Aphalaridae is a bug family in the superfamily Psylloidea.
Carsidaridae is a bug family in the superfamily Psylloidea, with a world-wide distribution; the type genus Carsidara is from eastern Asia. Species of Allocarsidara are considered to be durian pests.
Homotomidae was a family of small phloem-feeding bugs in the superfamily of jumping plantlice, but recently (2021) subsumed to the subfamily Homotominae Heslop-Harrison, 1958 in the family Carsidaridae.
Calophya is the type genus of the psyllid bug family Calophyidae.
Aphalara is a genus of jumping plant lice (psyllid), typical of the family Aphalaridae and tribe Aphalarini.
Trioza is the type genus of sap-sucking bugs in the family Triozidae; it has a world-wide distribution.
Bactericera is a mostly Palaearctic and Nearctic plant louse genus in the family Triozidae; it was erected by Auguste Puton in 1876.
Psyllinae is a subfamily of plant-parasitic hemipterans in the family Psyllidae. It includes minor pest species such as: the apple psylla, Cacopsylla mali and Cacopsylla pyri, commonly known as the pear psylla.
Psylla frodobagginsi or the hobbit kōwhai psyllid is a species of psyllid, a plant-feeding hemipteran in the family Psyllidae. It is endemic to New Zealand and is found only on New Zealand kōwhai trees and is named after the character Frodo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings.
Diclidophlebia is a genus of plant lice in the subfamily Liviinae, erected by David Crawford in 1920.
