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Pleotrichophorus stroudiStroud's rabbitbrush aphidOn this page: Identification & Distribution Other aphids on the same hostIdentification & DistributionJudging from the picture below, adult apterae of Pleotrichophorus stroudi are green (but see note below), with a frosted appearance due to fan-shaped dorsal hairs; the antennae are mainly dark. The head has moderately developed antennal and median frontal tubercles. The antennal terminal process is 6.25-7.00 times the base of antennal segment VI. The head bears uniformly funnel-shaped, or widely expanded, frontal dorsal cephalic hairs (cf. the very similar Pleotrichophorus packi, and Pleotrichophorus sporadicus sp. complex, which have those hairs long, with blunt slightly expanded or pointed apices). The apical rostral segment (RIV+V) is slender at base, tapering to an acute point; it is 0.71-0.88 times length of second hind tarsal joint (HTII), with 1 basal, 2 dorsal, and 3 lateral pairs of hairs. Dorsal body hairs are moderately dense and funnel-shaped distally. The fore, mid, and hind legs have 3, 3, 3 hairs on the first tarsal joints. The siphunculi are dark apart from the basal 0.2 (cf. Pleotrichophorus palmerae and Pleotrichophorus elongatus which have only the apices dusky or dark, and Pleotrichophorus packi ssp. brevis, which has only the distal half dark). The siphunculi are cylindrical, long and thin, 0.22-0.39 times the body length (cf. Pleotrichophorus oestlundi, whose siphunculi are 0.11-0.21 times the body length). The cauda is dusky, elongate, with a slight basal constriction, and an acute apex; it bears 3-5 hairs on each side, and 4 on the posterodorsal surface. The body length of adult Pleotrichophorus stroudi apterae is 2.0-2.5 mm. Note: We cannot be certain about the colour in life because it was not recorded in the description by Knowlton (1984), also we cannot be 100% sure of the identification of the specimen pictured here. Nevertheless, green is by far the most likely colour.
Images above copyright Jesse Rorabaugh under a public domain (CCO) licence. The alate Pleotrichophorus stroudi (not pictured) has the antennae blackish beyond the base of segment III, with 21 or more secondary rhinaria in a crowded single row on segment III. The abdomen has flat to fan-shaped hairs laterally, and on the dorsum. The siphunculi are dusky to blackish, and the cauda is dusky and without capitate hairs. Pleotrichophorus stroudi is monoecious holocyclic on rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa & Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus), although the sexuales have yet to be found. Clyde P. Stroud first found the species in 1947 by sweeping the vegetation, mainly comprised of grey rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa), at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, USA. Stroud's rabbitbrush aphid is found in western America. Other aphids on the same hostPleotrichophorus stroudi has been found on 1 Ericameria species (Ericameria nauseosa)
Pleotrichophorus stroudi has been found on 1 Chrysothamnus species (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus)
There is also a possible record from Poliomintha incana.
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