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Calaphidinae : Panaphidini : Shivaphis celti
 

 

Shivaphis celti

Asian woolly hackberry aphid

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

Identification & Distribution

For several species in genus Shivaphis, only alate viviparae are known, but in Shivaphis celti apterae also occur. Adult apterae of Shivaphis celti (see first picture below) are pale to dusky greenish, sometimes pinkish (or orange?). They are covered in bluish-white flocculent (=foam-like) wax which is borne in streamers, especially from the head, thorax, abdomen and legs. The head, thoracic and abdominal segments all bear dorsal and dorsolateral wax glands. The wax gland pores resemble biscuits, with well defined facets. The antennae have a rather short terminal process, about 0.25 times the length of the base of antennal segment VI, and only about 3 times as long as wide (cf. most other Shivaphis apart from Shivaphis catalpinari, all in Asia, which have the terminal process at least 6 times longer than the base is wide). The eyes are brilliant red with well developed ocular tubercles. The rostrum is elongate, reaching between the fore and middle coxae, with the apical segment longer than its basal width. The fore coxae are strongly enlarged (cf. Shivaphis catalpinari in Turkey & China, which have the fore coxae weakly enlarged). The siphunculi are very short, their length being about half their diameter. The apical part of the cauda is finger-like, but rather irregular in shape (cf. Shivaphis catalpinari, where the apical part of the cauda is a rounded knob). The body length of the adult Shivaphis celti aptera is 1.9-2.6 mm. Immatures are yellowish green.

First image above copyright Erin Powell, second image copyright Jonathan Breytenbach,
both under a creative commons licence.

Alate Shivaphis celti (see second picture above and pictures below) are also wax-covered, with forewing veins thickly bordered with fuscous distally, and have large black patches on the pterostigma and distal part of wing vein Cu1b. Antennal segment III has 9-11 secondary rhinaria distributed on the middle part of the segment. On the abdomens of alatae, the wax glands are often on sclerites.

First image above copyright cecileroux, second image copyright CBG group,
both under a creative commons licence.

Shivaphis celti feeds on the undersides of leaves or on the shoot tips of hackberries (Celtis species). S. celti is usually monoecious holocyclic in its native habitat (East and South east Asia), with sexuales occurring late in the year, eggs laid in January and hatching in March. However, in some parts of East Asia, and in countries where it is invasive, populations may be partly or completely anholocyclic. Shivaphis celti was introduced to Florida, USA in the late 1990s, and by 2002 had spread to California. It has since been found in Australia and South Africa.

 

Other aphids on the same host

Shivaphis celti has been found on 16 hackberry / nettle-tree species (Celtis africana, Celtis australis, Celtis biondii, Celtis bungeana, Celtis cinnamomia, Celtis hamiltoni, Celtis jessoensis, Celtis juliane, Celtis koraiensis, Celtis kunmingensis, Celtis laevigata, Celtis nervosa, Celtis occidentalis, Celtis sinensis, Celtis tetranda, Celtis triandra).

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Erin Powell, Jonathan Breytenbach, cecileroux, & CBG group, for making their images of Shivaphis celti available for use under creative commons licences.

We have used the keys and species accounts of Das (1918) and Quednau (2003), 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 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

  • Das, B. (1918). The Aphididae of Lahore. Memoirs of the Indian Museum 6 (4), 135-274. (p.246)

  • Quednau, F.W. (2003). Atlas of the Drepanosphine aphids of the world. Part II Panaphidina Oestlund, 1923 (Hemiptera: Aphididae: Calaphidinae). Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 72, 1-300. (p. 47)