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Saltusaphidinae : Saltusaphidini : Iziphya bufo
 

 

Iziphya bufo

Jumping toad aphid

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

Identification & Distribution

Immature Iziphya bufo (see first picture below) are pale yellow with dusky siphunculi and rows of dusky spinal and marginal tubercles. Adult apterae of Iziphya bufo (see second picture below) are yellowish or greenish yellow, usually with a pair of large dark areas on the metathorax, and dark areas around the siphunculi. The latter are more-or-less joined by a dark arc of pigment so there is never a clear spinal stripe - sometimes the dorsum is almost completely black. The head is dark, usually with a paler central area. Their antennae, which are about 0.7-0.8 times the body length, have segments I-II and IV-VI dark, and segment III pale with a dark apex. The terminal process is about 1.5 times the base of antennal segment VI. The dorsum and margins of tergites VI-VIII have both short fan-shape hairs and longer capitate or rod-shaped hairs (cf. Iziphya ingegardae, which have all dorsal and marginal hairs slightly capitate or pointed). There are no rod-shaped marginal hairs anterior to the siphunculi (cf. Iziphya memorialis, which has a few rod-shaped marginal hairs anterior to the siphunculi). Spinal hairs are borne on tubercular bases. The siphunculi are dark, stump shaped with a rounded apical rim. The body length of adult Iziphya bufo apterae is 1.4-2.1 mm.

Note: We have followed Quednau (2010) in regarding Iziphya maculata, Iziphya austriaca and Iziphya oettingenii as synonyms of Iziphya bufo.

Pictures above copyright Pierre Gros under a under a cc by-nc licence.

Alatae (see two pictures below) have a dark central dorsal abdominal patch and broadly banded wing veins. Antennal segment III bears about 18-20 secondary rhinaria along the entire segment. The middle abdominal tergites each have two irregular transverse rows of hairs.

Pictures above copyright Pierre Gros under a under a cc by-nc licence.

Iziphya bufo lives on on various sedge (Carex) spp., especially Carex arenaria. Other recorded hosts include Cyperus rotundus, Juncus and grasses such as Cynodon dactylon. It is often found in drier situations such as sandhills, drained forest soil and steppe regions, but also sometimes in bogs. The species got the name 'bufo' (meaning toad) because of its ability to jump a short distance using its enlarged femora and tibiae - albeit other Iziphya share these traits. Oviparae and apterous males occur in September-October. Iziphya bufo is widespread in Europe, and in south-west and central Asia.

 

Other aphids on the same host

Iziphya bufo has beeen recorded from 15 different species of sedge (Carex arenaria, Carex brizoides, Carex caryophylleae, Carex colchica, Carex curta, Carex distans, Carex echinata, Carex humilis, Carex juncella, Carex muricata, Carex nigra, Carex ovalis, Carex pilulifera, Carex praecox, Carex rostrata), but most frequently from Carex arenaria.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Pierre Gros for making his pictures of Iziphya bufo available for use.

We have used the keys and species accounts of Heie (1980-1995), 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

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