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Tag Archives: aphids

A is for aphids

06 Monday Dec 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

aphids, aphids on salix species, British aphids, Giant willow aphid, Tuberolachnus salignus

This year I thought I’d finish 2021 with something different, an A-to-Z 26-day countdown to the end of the year. So, first up, A is for aphids, a family I intend to look closer at in the coming year. Many species look very similar to each other and so are hard to identify, like these.

211206 aphids (1)
211206 aphids (2)
211206 aphids (3)

But there are other species that are specific to particular plants, like the one shown below. Though my finds haven’t yet been confirmed, from their relatively large size, the fact that I’ve found them twice now on Grey willow, and their markings and the distinctive horny bumps on their rear ends, I’m fairly sure these are Giant willow aphids (Tuberolachnus salignus).

211206 aphids (4)

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345/366 Italian Alder aphid

10 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, leaves, nature, trees

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

aphids, Crypturaphis grassii, Italian Alder, Italian Alder aphid

At first I thought this incredibly tiny creature was the early instar of a shield bug but, when I couldn’t find any pictures that resembled it on the British Bugs website, I turned to Twitter for help. Luckily, a botanist I know, Karen, had seen something similar posted recently in a Facebook group and very quickly supplied me with a name, Crypturaphis grassii, the Italian Alder aphid, so named because it’s only ever found on Italian Alder trees (Alnus cordata).

201210 Crypturaphis grassii (1)

I found online a report published in 2011, on the first records of this species in Cornwall, which provides some interesting detail about these aphids. Apparently, Crypturaphis grassii is ‘native to southern Italy and Corsica and [was] first recorded in the UK in 1998’. Intrigued, I returned to the tree I’d found my first specimen on and found many more of these creatures, with variations in colour and markings. The report explains that:

Viviparous individuals [those able to birth live young] are yellowish-green to yellowish-brown, with brown spots extending along the dorsal surface, around the edge of the abdomen and on the head. Compound eyes are reddish in colour. … Immature apterae [wingless individuals] are similar but smaller, paler and lacking in dark spots, more translucent and slightly more elongate in shape. Oviparous apterae [wingless individuals that are able to lay eggs] are similar in size and shape to viviparous apterae but are brown in colour, with transverse darker abdominal stripes, rather than spots.

201210 Crypturaphis grassii (3)

201210 Crypturaphis grassii (4)
201210 Crypturaphis grassii (5)

The Italian Alder, on which the aphid feeds, was ‘commonly planted as a roadside, waterside and/or windbreak species’ during the 1980s, and, by 2011 when the report was published, the aphids had already spread widely throughout Britain, including having established colonies in the Vale of Glamorgan, which is where I found the aphids in my photographs.

201210 Crypturaphis grassii (2)

Citation: Luker, Sally. (2011). CRYPTURAPHIS GRASSII (STERNORRYNCHA: APHIDIDAE): FIRST RECORDS FOR CORNWALL. British Journal of Entomology and Natural History. 24. 205.

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The aphid-eaters

15 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, insects, nature, plants

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

aphids, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, ladybirds, Wild parsnip, Willow warbler, Willow warbler migration

180815 willow warbler (5)

Do you remember last Friday I blogged about the abundance of ladybirds at Cosmeston? They were feasting on the huge numbers of aphids on the Wild parsnip plants. Well, it turns out the ladybirds have had some competition for those aphids this week, as the migrating Willow warblers move through. I don’t think we need to worry though – there are more than enough aphids to go around!

180815 willow warbler (1)180815 willow warbler (2)180815 willow warbler (3)180815 willow warbler (4)

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What do ladybirds eat?

10 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, insects, ladybird, nature, plants, wildflowers

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

7-spot ladybirds, aphids, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, harlequin ladybird, ladybirds, Wild parsnip

I googled ‘What do ladybirds eat?’ today because I was trying to work out why there are so many ladybirds – about a 50 / 50 split between 7-spots and Harlequins – on the Wild parsnip plants at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park. It turns out ladybirds are particularly keen on aphids and, as you can see in some of my photos, there are rather a lot of aphids on these plants. Good news for the ladybirds!

180810 ladybirds on wild parsnip (1)
180810 ladybirds on wild parsnip (2)
180810 ladybirds on wild parsnip (3)
180810 ladybirds on wild parsnip (4)
180810 ladybirds on wild parsnip (5)
180810 ladybirds on wild parsnip (6)
180810 ladybirds on wild parsnip (7)
180810 ladybirds on wild parsnip (8)
180810 ladybirds on wild parsnip (9)
180810 ladybirds on wild parsnip (10)
180810 ladybirds on wild parsnip (11)
180810 ladybirds on wild parsnip (12)
180810 ladybirds on wild parsnip (13)
180810 ladybirds on wild parsnip (14)

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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