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Calaphidinae : Panaphidini : Tuberculatus kuricola
 

 

Tuberculatus kuricola

Chestnut spotted aphid

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

Identification & Distribution

Immature Tuberculatus kuricola (see first picture below) are greenish, with several dorsal longitudinal rows of dark spots and, unlike the alatae, have little or no wax. All adult viviparae are alate. Alate viviparae of Tuberculatus kuricola (see second picture below) are rather squat-bodied. The body is dark yellowish green to dirty yellow to reddish, and is covered with whitish wax powder. Marginal tubercles and siphunculi are dark, but the cauda and legs are pale. The forewings have very broad bands of fuscous that follow the veins. The antennal tubercles are poorly developed. The antennae are 0.56-0.66 times the body length, with the terminal process 0.64-1.11 times as long as the base of segment VI. Antennal segment III has 5-9 rounded secondary rhinaria in a row on the basal 0.67. The longest hair on segment III is 3.0-4.5 times as long as basal diameter of that segment. The rostrum does not reach the middle coxae. The apical rostral segment is 1.11-1.18 times as long as the second hind tarsus segment. Each abdominal dorsal tergite has two pairs of long and fine setae on a pair of pigmented spinal tubercles, with other scattered hairs on scleroites. Abdominal tergites I-V have 3-6 long hairs on well developed marginal tubercles, those on tergite IV being conspicuously developed with 6-7 hairs. Siphunculi are short, with a distal flange. The cauda is knobbed, with 11-14 long, fine hairs. The anal plate is bilobed. The adult Tuberculatus kuricola aptera body length is 1.2-1.9 mm.

First image copyright re nebel; second image copyright doze;
both under a creative commons licence

For more images of this aphid see Jadam Organic Farming.

Tuberculatus kuricola is monoecious on chestnut (Castanea spp.), especially Korean chestnut (Castanea crenata). It feeds along leaf mid-ribs and on green stems. The lifecycle is holocyclic, with sexuales occurring in October-November in Japan. Tuberculatus kuricola is often ant-attended. This aphid is native to China, Siberia, Japan, Korea & Taiwan, and has been introduced to Brazil, Spain and Madeira. It is common in Korea.

 

Other aphids on the same host

Tuberculatus kuricola has been recorded on 6 Castanea species (Castanea bungeana, Castanea crenata, Castanea henryi, Castanea mollissima, Castanea pubinervis, Castanea sativa).

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Doze & re nebel for making their images of Tuberculatus kuricola available for use under a creative commons licence.

We have used the species accounts given by Lee et al. (2018), together 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 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

  • Lee, S. et al. (2018). Calaphidinae. Insect Fauna of Korea 9(5) National Institute of Biological Resources (p. 43).