InfluentialPoints.com
Biology, images, analysis, design...
Aphids Find them How to ID AphidBlog
 "It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important" (Sherlock Holmes)

Search this site

Saltusaphidinae : Thripsaphidini : Allaphis producta
 

 

Allaphis producta

Wax-fringed sedge aphid

On this page: Identification & Distribution Other aphids on the same host

Identification & Distribution

Adult apterae of Allaphis producta (see two pictures below) are very elongate, rather variably coloured from yellowish white to pale greyish brown to blackish. They secrete bluish white wax, especially at the end of abdomen, with a little along the sides of the posterior tergites. The antennae are rather short (see note below), and are black apart from near the base. Antennal segment III has 1-5 secondary rhinaria on its distal half. Abdominal tergite VIII has its posterior margin bluntly triangular, and with a pair of hairs close together, one on each side of the apex (cf. Allaphis ossiannilssoni which have the two most medial hairs well separated). The siphunculi are reduced to small pores. The anal plate is bilobed, and the cauda is strongly knobbed. The body length of the adult Allaphis producta aptera is 1.8-2.5 mm.

Note: we cannot be absolutely certain about the identification of these specimens, partly because published accounts of the morphology of this species are not consistent. For example: in his key Quednau (2010) (p.74) gives antennal length of Allaphis producta as 0.55-0.57 times body length, yet in his figures (p.301) he shows it as about 0.37-0.44 times body length; in the original description by Gillette (as Thripsaphis producta) it can be estimated as 0.45; for the specimens shown here (n=3) it is close to 0.4.

Images above copyright Jochem Kuhnen, all rights reserved.

Alatae of Allaphis producta have 10-14 rhinaria on antennal segment III, and broad black cross bars that are fused into a solid patch on abdominal tergites III-VI.

Images above copyright Jochem Kuhnen, all rights reserved.

Allaphis producta is monoecious holocyclic on leaves of sedges (Carex spp.). Oviparae and wingless males have been found in mid-July in Iceland, from August to September in Britain, and in mid-October in Spain. Allaphis producta is widely distributed in the northern hemisphere from North America, to Europe, and across Asia to east Siberia.

 

Other aphids on the same host

Aphis producta has been recorded from 24 sedge species (Carex acuta, Carex acutiformis, Carex atrata, Carex cespitosa, Carex curta, Carex elata, Carex filiformis, Carex flacca, Carex flava, Carex hirta, Carex juncella, Carex lasiocarpa, Carex limosa, Carex nebraskensis, Carex nigra, Carex ovalis, Carex panicea, Carex paniculata, Carex pseudocyperus, Carex rhynchophysa, Carex rostrata, Carex salina, Carex vesicaria, Carex vulpina).

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to Jochem Kuhnen for sending us the excellent pictures of Allaphis producta.

We have made provisional identifications from high resolution photos of living specimens, along with host plant identity. We have used the keys and species accounts of Gillette (1917) (as Thripsaphis producta) and Quednau (2010) together with information from Roger Blackman & Victor Eastop in Aphids on Worlds Plants. We fully acknowledge these authors as the source for the (summarized) taxonomic information we have presented. Any errors in identification or information are ours alone, and we would be very grateful for any corrections. For assistance on the terms used for aphid morphology we suggest the figure provided by Blackman & Eastop (2006).

Useful weblinks

References

  • Gillette, C.P. (1917). Two new aphid genera and some new species. The Canadian Entomologist 49, 193-199. Abstract

  • Quednau, F.W. (2010). Atlas of the Drepanosiphine aphids of the world. Part III. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 83, 1-361.