Uroleucon jaceae

Identification & Distribution:

Uroleucon jaceae is a large blackish brown or reddish brown aphid, with rows of black spots on the dorsal abdomen (the spots are not very clear in life) (see first picture below). Abdominal tergites 2-4 often have small marginal tubercles about the size of hair bases. The femora have the basal half pale and distal half dark, with a rather sharp transition between them. The tibiae are totally black (cf. Uroleucon aeneum which has the tibiae brownish in the middle; also cf. Uroleucon jaceicola which has the legs mainly yellow with 'knees', tibial apices and tarsi black). The siphunculi are reticulated over the distal 0.16-0.27 of their length and are 1.3-1.8 times the length of the cauda. The cauda is black (cf. Uroleucon jaceicola which has a yellow cauda) and bears 18-30 hairs. The body length of Uroleucon jaceae apterae is 3.0-4.5 mm long.

The micrographs below show ventral views of an adult aptera and an immature aptera of Uroleucon jaceae in alcohol.

The clarified slide mounts below are of adult viviparous female Uroleucon jaceae : wingless, and winged.

The large knapweed aphid lives on various knapweeds (Centaurea species) and a few other species of Asteraceae. Oviparae and alate males can be found from late September. Uroleucon jaceae is found throughout Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Pakistan.

Other aphids on same host:

Uroleucon jaceae has been recorded from at least 39 Centaurea species.

• Blackman & Eastop list 7 or more aphid species as feeding on common knapweed (Centaurea nigra) worldwide, and provide formal identification keys (Show World list). Of those aphid species, Baker (2015) lists 7 as occurring in Britain (Show British list).

Acknowledgements Our particular thanks to Roger Blackman for images of his clarified slide mounts. Whilst we make every effort to ensure that identifications are correct, we cannot absolutely warranty their accuracy. We have mostly made identifications from high resolution photos of living specimens, along with host plant identity. In the great majority of cases, identifications have been confirmed by microscopic examination of preserved specimens. We have used the keys and species accounts of Blackman & Eastop (1994) and Blackman & Eastop (2006) supplemented with Blackman (1974), Stroyan (1977), Stroyan (1984), Blackman & Eastop (1984), Heie (1980-1995), Dixon & Thieme (2007) and Blackman (2010). We fully acknowledge these authors 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

 

Identification requests Nigel Gilligan 11/10/2014 I found some aphids a while ago on Lesser (Black) Knapweed (I'm just starting to sort my annual stuff). It was 11th August. Images copyright Nigel Gilligan, all rights reserved.     There appear to be 2 species, and I've identified them as a) Uroleucon cirsii [first and second images, above] b) U. jaceae [third image above] In [the third image] you can see what I assume is the other species in the background. Are these correct? Bob, Influentialpoints: Interesting aphids. You do seem to have two species here, but Uroleucon cirsii does not occur on knapweed. It is almost certainly Uroleucon jaceicola: Uroleucon jaceicola: Pale cauda, black siphunculi, pale legs with dark knees and tips of tibiae [first and second images, above] (foreground). Uroleucon jaceae Dark cauda, black siphunculi, black legs [second image above] (IV instar future alate in background), and [third image above]. Uroleucon jaceae is very common but this is the first time we have seen Uroleucon jaceicola. Nigel Gilligan 13/10/2014 Just an afterthought on this. Is "almost certainly " sufficient to record it as that species (maybe with a note to that effect), or not? I've just had a similar experience with an unusual plant bug, where the specialist had never seen one before until this summer, so initially hedged his bets and said it "it looked like", but later said he was pretty happy about it ... it had to be that, etc. I do wonder whether determinations should come with a % confidence measure! Nigel Gilligan 16/10/2014 Come across another Uroleucon jaceicola, on Knapweed, from the summer. Since it's unusual, two images attached [shown below]. Not great photos though. Images copyright Nigel Gilligan, all rights reserved.   Did you reply to my query about whether I can actually log Uroleucon jaceicola from the previous images? The ones above are not good, I know, but I have several other images from the recent submission, with views of groups of them from different angles, but not actually more detailed views. There are some U. jaceae mixed in with them, I think. Bob, Influentialpoints: Just found some Uroleucon jaceicola in my own photos - perhaps it was a good year for them. Thanks for those extra piccies - yes you can certainly log them.