Aphid

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(PD) Photo: US Deparment of Agriculture
A soybean aphid.

Aphids are soft-bodied insects from the family aphididae, in the order homoptera.[1][2][3]

Aphids have mouth parts adapted to piercing plants and feeding of fluids they suck.[1][2][3] They damage plants through the wounds they leave, which can allow the plants to become infected, and when the plant is heavily infested, through the loss of fluid. Aphids excrete excess sugar from their bodies in a liquid called "honeydew". Aphids are can reproduce either sexually, or through parthenogenesis.

Some species of ants protect aphids, and methodically harvest their honeydew.[4]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Pest profiles: aphids, Texas A&M University, Department of Entomology. Retrieved on 2008-05-17.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Oleander Aphid, Texas A&M University, Department of Entomology. Retrieved on 2008-05-17.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Bastiaan M. Drees. Aphid Management, Texas A&M University, Department of Entomology. Retrieved on 2008-05-17.
  4. Exotic Texas Ant, Paratrechina sp. near pubens, Center for Urban & Structural Entomology, Texas A&M University, Department of Entomology. Retrieved on 2008-05-17.