Aphis paludicola (Eng) identification, images, ecology, control

Adult apterae of Aphis paludicola (see top aphid in first picture below) are dark brown with a thick covering of grey-white wax. The hairs on antennal segment III are quite long and finely pointed, and 1.1-2.0 times the basal diameter of segment III (cf. Aphis euphorbiae, which has the longest hairs on antennal segment III 0.55-0.95 times its basal diameter). The siphunculi are 0.70-1.37 times longer than the cauda. The cauda bears numerous (28 or more) hairs. The body length of adult apterae is 2.3-2.7 mm.

Note: whilst we cannot directly confirm the identity of the aphids pictured, they were on Euphorbia palustris, and Aphis paludicola is so far the only aphid species reported to occur on that plant. The aphids pictured are certainly one of the 'difficult' Aphis euphorbiae group of aphid species, with the siphunculi shorter or only slightly longer than the cauda. Unfortunately Börner (1940) only provided an extremely short description of Aphis paludicola, and we have been unable to access the redescription of Börner's specimens by Tashev (1966).

Aphis cf. paludicola (marsh spurge aphid) colony with adult aptera on Euphorbia palustris (marsh spurge) near Zazymya, Brovary raion, Kiev oblast, Ukraine on 3/5/16; Aimaina Hikari

Images above copyright Aimaina Hikari under a Creative Commons CC-Zero (public domain) licence.

Alatae of Aphis paludicola (not pictured) have 9-15 secondary rhinaria on antennal segment III, 0-7 on segment IV, and 0-4 on segment V.

Aphis paludicola is thought to be monoecious holocyclic, like other members of the Aphis euphorbiae group. Its only known host plant is marsh spurge (Euphorbia palustris). The aphid has so far been found in Germany and Ukraine.

Other aphids on the same host

Aphis paludicola is found on one spurge species (Euphorbia palustris).

Blackman & Eastop list only 1 species of aphid as feeding on marsh spurge (Euphorbia palustris) worldwide, and provide formal identification keys (Show World list). Of those aphid species, Baker (2015) lists 0 as occurring in Britain (Show British list).

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Aimaina Hikari for making pictures of Aphis paludicola available for use under a public domain licence.
We have used the keys and species accounts of Börner (1940) (as Pergandei palustris) and Hille Ris Lambers (1959) along with information from Roger Blackman & Victor Eastop in Aphids on Worlds Plants. We fully acknowledge these authors and those listed in the reference sections 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

Börner, V.C. (1940). Neue Blattläuse aus Mitteleuropa Naumburg (privately published). 4pp.
Hille Ris Lambers, D. (1959). Notes on European Aphids with descriptions of new genera and species (Homoptera, Aphididae). Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 32 (2-3), 271-286. Full text
Tashev, D.G. (1966). Notes on some aphid species living on Euphorbia. Ann. Univ. Sofia (biol.) 59, 1-15.

Aphis paludicola

Marsh spurge aphid

Identification & Distribution

Other aphids on the same host

Acknowledgements

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References