Ultrastructural and surface features of apple leaves following white apple leafhopper feeding

White apple leafhopper (WALH; Typhlocyba pomaria McAtee) feeding damage on apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) leaves was examined with scanning and transmission electron microscopy. WALH created feeding holes in the (lower) abaxial epidermis, with no visible exterior evidence of cell injury to the adaxial (upper) epidermis. Feeding holes were located in areas of the leaf with high stomatal density and were near stomata. Groups of cells in the palisade layers were empty or contained coagulated cell contents. Adjacent, apparently noninjured, palisade cells contained an abundance of starch granules, possibly indicating that photoassimilate export was impaired. Spongy mesophyll cells abaxial to the feeding area were left intact as were the epidermal cells adaxial to the feeding area. External views of either epidermis and internal leaf views of injured cells indicated no cell wall collapse.