Adelgidae

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Adelgidae
Temporal range: Eocene–Present
Adelges tsugae 1276001.jpg
Hemlock woolly adelgid
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Sternorrhyncha
Infraorder: Aphidomorpha
Superfamily: Phylloxeroidea
Family: Adelgidae
Schouteden, 1909
Genera

See text

The Adelgidae [1] are a small family of the Hemiptera closely related to the aphids, and often included in the Aphidoidea with the Phylloxeridae or placed within the superfamily Phylloxeroidea as a sister of the Aphidoidea within the infraorder Aphidomorpha. The family is composed of species associated with pine, spruce, or other conifers, known respectively as "pine aphids" or "spruce aphids". This family includes the former family Chermesidae, or "Chermidae", the name of which was declared invalid by the ICZN in 1955. [2] There is still considerable debate as to the number of genera within the family, and the classification is still unstable and inconsistent among competing authors. [3]

Contents

There are about fifty species of adelgids known. All of them are native to the northern hemisphere, although some have been introduced to the southern hemisphere as invasive species. [4] [5] Unlike aphids, the adelgids have no tail-like cauda and no cornicles. [6]

Adelgids only lay eggs, and never give birth to live nymphs as aphids do. Adelgids are covered with dense woolly wax. A complete adelgid life cycle lasts two years. [6] Adelgid nymphs are known as sistentes, and the overwintering sistentes are called neosistens. [7]

Rain can kill adelgids by dislodging eggs and sistentes from trees. [8]

Balsam woolly adelgid Balsam woolly adelgid.gif
Balsam woolly adelgid
Galls of Adelges abietis (Pineapple gall adelgid) on fir (Abies) Adelges abietis. galls.jpg
Galls of Adelges abietis (Pineapple gall adelgid) on fir ( Abies )

Genera

See also

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<i>Adelges</i> Genus of true bugs

Adelges is a genus of insects which feed on conifers. They have complex life cycles, some species feeding exclusively on spruce, others feeding on spruce and an alternate conifer. However, galls characteristic of each species are formed only on spruce. Six generations are usually needed to complete the 2-year cycle, and in the case of species having an alternate host, winged adults about 2 mm long are formed only in the generations that move from one host to the other.

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Nathan Peterson Havill is an American entomologist and evolutionary biologist. Havill is a Research Entomologist with the United States Forest Service in Hamden, Connecticut and is internationally recognized on the phylogeny of Adelgidae.

References

  1. Schouteden (1909) Rhynchota für 1908. Archiv für Naturgeschichte 75(2–2–2): 136–219 (p. 138 Adelginen).
  2. insects being called "chermes" sometimes. Another name that was common was "dreyfusia" in other locations (The Balsam Woolly Aphid Problem in Oregon and Washington, Norman E. Johnson and Kenneth H. Wright, Research paper No. 18, United States Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, April, 1957).
  3. A Historical Review of Adelgid Nomenclature Archived October 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , Matthew S. Wallace, Third Symposium on Woolly Hemlock Adelgids
  4. "Hemlock Woolly Adelgid". Gallery of Pests. Don't Move Firewood. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  5. "Balsam Woolly Adelgid". Gallery of Pests. Don't Move Firewood. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  6. 1 2 Bugs of the World, George C. McGumo, Facts on File Archived 2007-10-14 at the Wayback Machine , 1993, ISBN   0-8160-2737-4
  7. page 724 of Imms' General Textbook of Entomology, Tenth Edition, volume 2, Augustus Daniel Imms, Richard Gareth Davies, Owain Westmacott Richards, Springer, 1977, ISBN   0-412-15220-7
  8. The Balsam Woolly Aphid Problem in Oregon and Washington, Norman E. Johnson and Kenneth H. Wright, Research paper No. 18, United States Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, April, 1957