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Aphidinae : Macrosiphini : Uroleucon inulae
 

 

Uroleucon inulae

Green sticky-fleabane aphid

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

Identification & Distribution

Adult apterae of Uroleucon inulae are 'grass green' (cf. Uroleucon pulicariae, which are coloured dark reddish brown). The siphunculi and cauda are light brown / dusky (cf. Uroleucon bifrontis, which has black siphunculi). The tibiae and antennae are also dusky, with darker apices. The antennal tubercles are prominent, but not high. The antennal terminal process is 5-7 times as long as the base of antennal segment VI. The hairs on antennal segment III are about 0.5-0.75 times the basal diameter of that segment. The apical rostrum segment is long and narrow, dagger-like, and is 2.4-2.8 times as long as the second hind tarsal segment. The dorsum is membranous. Scleroites at the bases of dorsal hairs are pale and indistinct. The siphunculi are reticulated on their distal 0.26-0.33; they are 2.0-2.25 times the cauda and 0.27-0.37 times the body length (cf. Uroleucon elbursicum, which has black siphunculi 0.34-0.42 times the body length). The cauda has 11-22 hairs. The body length of adult Uroleucon inulae apterae is 2.7-3.5 mm.

First image above copyright Faluke; second image copyright Savvas Zafeiriou;
both under a Creative Commons License.

The alate most likely has a green abdomen. Antennal segment III is crenate (= scalloped), segments IV & V are slightly decreasing in length, the base of antennal segment VI is 0.33 times segment V, with the terminal process the longest of all. The pterostigma and the costa are green, and tarsi are brown.

Uroleucon inulae is found on sticky fleabane (Dittrichia viscosa = Inula viscosa), and possibly some related species. It feeds in sometimes quite dense colonies, as in the second picture above. It is found in southern Europe and throughout the Mediterranean region, from Portugal to Lebanon and east to Iran.

 

Other aphids on the same host

Uroleucon inulae has been recorded from 1 Dittrichia species (Dittrichia viscosa), with possible occurrences on 3 Inula species (Inula conyza, Inula spiraeifolia, Inula telephium).

Uroleucon inulae has been recorded from 1 Pulicaria species (Pulicaria dysenterica).

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Faluke and Savvas Zafeiriou for making their images of Uroleucon inulae available for use under a creative commons licence.

We have used the summarised species accounts given by Bodenheimer & Swirski (1957) and Holman (1981), 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

  • Bodenheimer, F.S. & Swirski, E. (1957). The Aphidoidea of the Middle East. Weizenann Science Press of Israel. 378 pp. (p. 206)

  • Holman, J. (1981). A review of Uroleucon species (Homoptera, Aphididae) confined to Asteraceae : Inulae. Acta Entomologica Bohemoslovaca 78(3), 162-176.