Frontpage » Tag » aphids

News tagged with aphids

Increasing predator-friendly land can help farmers reduce costs

Having natural habitat in farming areas that supports ladybugs could help increase their abundance in crops where they control pests and help farmers reduce their costs, says a Michigan State University study.

Biology / Ecology

created May 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

New tool for tracking a voracious pest

Since it first appeared in Texas in 1986, the Russian wheat aphid has cost U.S. wheat growers an estimated $200 million each year. But U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have developed a new ...

Biology / Other

created May 09, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Reducing insecticide use by identifying disease-carrying aphids

In work that could cut back on insecticide use, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have found a way to distinguish aphids that spread plant viruses from those that do not.

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 03, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Novel approach to curing crop diseases tested

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sugar may be a treat for humans, but for aphids it can be life threatening. A $452,000 grant to Cornell and Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI) will fund research exploiting ...

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 03, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Cunning super-parasitic wasps sniff out protected aphids and overwhelm their defenses

In the war between parasite and host, the parasitic wasp, Aphidius ervi, and the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, are locked in a battle for survival. New research published in BioMed Central's open access j ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 23, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Rapid evolution within single crop-growing season increases insect pest numbers

New research by scientists at the University of California, Riverside shows that evolution – genetic changes in populations over time – can occur so rapidly in organisms that its impact on population ...

Biology / Ecology

created Aug 15, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Soybean aphids starting to increase

The increase in soybean aphid numbers means producers should step up scouting efforts, but they also should take caution to avoid unnecessary spraying.

Biology / Ecology

created Aug 04, 2011 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Fewer aphids in organic crop fields

Farmers who spray insecticides against aphids as a preventative measure only achieve a short-term effect with this method. In the long term, their fields will end up with even more aphids than untreated fields. This has been ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jul 13, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Freefall -- aphids' survival strategy

As soon as aphids feeding on a plant sense the heat and humidity in a mammal's breath, they drop to safety before they are inadvertently ingested together with the plant the animal is feeding on. These findings by Moshe Gish ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 12, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

New and old threats to soybean production

University of Illinois researchers identified the top pathogens, pests and weeds affecting soybean production in a recent article in Food Security. Soybean aphid, soybean rust, soybean cyst nematode, Sclerotina stem rot an ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jun 23, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Solving an old mystery with wasps

Swiss researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich have discovered that a single gene in a particular aphid wasp decides whether the insects reproduce sexually or asexually. This is not only of interest ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 01, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Identity theft by aphids

Collaborative research at the University of Guam has people asking: "What IS a species" and entomologists wondering about the relationship between an insect species and the host plant or plants it feeds on.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 19, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Color-changing bacterium inside the pea aphid

A bacterium that can live symbiotically inside the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, is able to change the insect’s body color from red to green, a RIKEN-led team of molecular entomologists has found. Becaus ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 07, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

In Brief: A symbiotic, color-changing relationship

For the tiny pea aphid, body color is a matter of life and death: Red and green color morphs determine their susceptibility to various predators and parasites in the wild.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 21, 2010 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Orchid tricks hoverflies: Eastern marsh helleborine mimics aphid alarm pheromones to attract pollinators

Even Darwin was a self-admitted orchid lover. Dictionaries describe orchids as exotic ornamentals. Indeed, these plants – more than 30000 different species are thought to exist – are exotic due their ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 14, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Aphid

Aphids, also known as plant lice and in Britain and the Commonwealth as greenflies, blackflies or whiteflies, (not to be confused with "jumping plant lice" or true whiteflies) are small sap sucking insects, and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Aphids are among the most destructive insect pests on cultivated plants in temperate regions. The damage they do to plants has made them enemies of farmers and gardeners the world over, but from a zoological standpoint they are a very successful group of organisms. Their success is in part due to the asexual reproduction capability of some species.

About 4,400 species of 10 families are known. Historically, many fewer families were recognised, as most species were included in the family Aphididae. Around 250 species are serious pests for agriculture and forestry as well as an annoyance for gardeners. They vary in length from 1 to 10 millimetres (0.04 to 0.39 in).

Natural enemies include predatory ladybirds, hoverfly larvae, parasitic wasps, aphid midge larvae, crab spiders, lacewings and entomopathogenic fungi like Lecanicillium lecanii and the Entomophthorales.

For more information about Aphid, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.