Aphids are small sap-sucking insects and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white woolly aphids. A typical life cycle involves flightless females giving live birth to female nymphs—who may also be already pregnant, an adaptation scientists call telescoping generations—without the involvement of males. Maturing rapidly, females breed profusely so that the number of these insects multiplies quickly. Winged females may develop later in the season, allowing the insects to colonize new plants. In temperate regions, a phase of sexual reproduction occurs in the autumn, with the insects often overwintering as eggs.
Homoptera is a suborder of order Hemiptera that is considered by some taxonomists to be paraphyletic, and therefore deprecated (obsolete). It was therefore split into the suborders Sternorrhyncha, Auchenorrhyncha, and Coleorrhyncha. The earlier work was based on nuclear DNA, but more recent phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial DNA suggest that Homoptera may be a monophyletic group after all, a sister group of Heteroptera. The cause of the disparity in the analyses is suggested to be the long branch attraction effect in phylogenetic analysis, due to rapidly evolving DNA regions.
In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasitism, distinguished by the fatal prognosis for the host, which makes the strategy close to predation.
Pearl millet is the most widely grown type of millet. It has been grown in Africa and the Indian subcontinent since prehistoric times. The center of diversity, and suggested area of domestication, for the crop is in the Sahel zone of West Africa. Recent archaeobotanical research has confirmed the presence of domesticated pearl millet on the Sahel zone of northern Mali between 2500 and 2000 BC. 2023 is the International Year of Millets, declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2021.
The Russian wheat aphid is an aphid that can cause significant losses in cereal crops. The species was introduced to the United States in 1986 and is considered an invasive species there. This aphid is pale green and up to 2 mm long. Cornicles are very short, rounded, and appear to be lacking. There is an appendage above the cauda giving the aphid the appearance of having two tails. The saliva of this aphid is toxic to the plant and causes whitish striping on cereal leaves. Feeding by this aphid will also cause the flag leaf to turn white and curl around the head causing incomplete head emergence. Its host plants are cereal grain crops including wheat and barley and to a lesser extent, wild grasses such as wheatgrasses, brome-grasses, ryegrasses and anything in the grass family.
The Sternorrhyncha suborder of the Hemiptera contains the aphids, whiteflies, and scale insects, groups which were traditionally included in the now-obsolete order "Homoptera". "Sternorrhyncha" refers to the rearward position of the mouthparts relative to the head.
Aphis is a genus of insects in the family Aphididae containing at least 600 species of aphids. It includes many notorious agricultural pests, such as the soybean aphid Aphis glycines. Many species of Aphis, such as A. coreopsidis and A. fabae, are myrmecophiles, forming close associations with ants.
Sipha flava is a species of aphid in the family Aphididae. It is native to North America. Its common name is yellow sugarcane aphid.
Y-DNA haplogroups in populations of Europe are haplogroups of the male Y-chromosome found in European populations.
Acyrthosiphon pisum, commonly known as the pea aphid, is a sap-sucking insect in the family Aphididae. It feeds on several species of legumes worldwide, including forage crops, such as pea, clover, alfalfa, and broad bean, and ranks among the aphid species of major agronomical importance. The pea aphid is a model organism for biological study whose genome has been sequenced and annotated.
Rhopalosiphum maidis, common names corn leaf aphid and corn aphid, is an insect, and a pest of maize and other crops. It has a nearly worldwide distribution and is typically found in agricultural fields, grasslands, and forest-grassland zones. Among aphids that feed on maize, it is the most commonly encountered and most economically damaging, particularly in tropical and warmer temperate areas. In addition to maize, R. maidis damages rice, sorghum, and other cultivated and wild monocots.
Genetic studies on Serbs show close affinity to other neighboring South Slavs.
Biological dark matter is an informal term for unclassified or poorly understood genetic material. This genetic material may refer to genetic material produced by unclassified microorganisms. By extension, biological dark matter may also refer to the un-isolated microorganism whose existence can only be inferred from the genetic material that they produce. Some of the genetic material may not fall under the three existing domains of life: Bacteria, Archaea and Eukaryota; thus, it has been suggested that a possible fourth domain of life may yet be discovered, although other explanations are also probable. Alternatively, the genetic material may refer to non-coding DNA and non-coding RNA produced by known organisms.
Bird cherry-oat aphid is an aphid in the superfamily Aphidoidea in the order Hemiptera. It is a true bug and sucks sap from plants. It is considered a major pest in cereal crops, especially in temperate regions, as well as other hosts in parts of Northern Europe. It is the principal vector of many viruses in economically important field crops.
The greenbug, or wheat aphid, is an aphid in the superfamily Aphidoidea in the order Hemiptera. It is a true bug and feeds on the leaves of Gramineae (grass) family members.
Tuberolachnus salignus, or the giant willow aphid, is a species of aphid, in the genus Tuberolachnus. They are reputed to be the largest aphids, with a body length of up to 5.8mm. First described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1790, it feeds on many species of willow, and has one known specific parasite, Pauesia salignae.
This article records new taxa of fossil archosaurs of every kind that are scheduled described during the year 2014, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of archosaurs that are scheduled to occur in the year 2014.
This list of fossil reptiles described in 2014 is a list of new taxa of fossil reptiles that were described during the year 2014, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to reptile paleontology that occurred in 2014.
