ENY 3005 Family Identification

Homoptera: Aphididae

 Common name: aphids

A colony of giant bark aphids, Longistigma caryae.

Identifying characteristics for the family Aphididae include:

• Soft-bodied, pear-shaped insects with delicate-looking legs and 6-segmented antennae.
• Most species have a pair of cornicles projecting from the posterior of the abdomen.
• Front wings with 4 to 6 veins below the darkened stigma, the media being branched.

Additional information:

• Many species of aphids are serious plant pests, causing major economic losses by various combinations of feeding injury and the vectoring of plant-pathogenic viruses.
• Honeydew, a clear liquid secreted from the anus, is used as food by ants and many other insects.

Tomato aphid.

References:

• Page 134 and plate 4 in D. J. Borror and R. E. White. 1970. A Field Guide to the Insects. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
• Page 167 in R. G. Bland and H. E. Jaques. 1978. How to Know the Insects, 3rd ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co. 409 p.
• Page 336 in D. J. Borror, C. A. Triplehorn, and N. F. Johnson. 1989. An Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing. 875 p.
• Page 431 in H. V. Daly, J. T. Doyen, and A. H. Purcell III. 1998. Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. 680 p.

Links to other web sites

• Brown Citrus Aphid - Toxoptera citricida (Kirkaldy)
•  Aphids on Ornamental Plants around the Home