Insect Foe -- Aphids And Their Cows

In other articles I've told you about certain insect foes of man, such as mosquitoes, flies, bees, ants, and various kinds of beetles. There is another kind of insect that people hear a lot about when they garden -- aphids. Some varieties of them are the bane of the rose gardener, others are the enemy of the commercial farmer, large and small.

These insects are sometimes known as Homoptera, a suborder of Hemiptera. Certain members of the Hemiptera group do not have wings of this sort. The wings of such insects as the cicada, the plant-louse, and the scale insect have the same thickness throughout.

For this reason, they are sometimes called Homoptera or same wings.

In fact, some people think that these insects, which are not true bugs, should be put in a separate order all by themselves. However, since the cicada and the plant-louse and the scale insect are all sucking creatures, the general practice is to include them in the order of the Hemiptera.

A great many of the land insects of this Hemiptera are decided enemies of man. One of the worst of these pests is the little aphid (also called the aphids and the plant louse).

Let's Take A Little Closer Look At This Little Bugger

Aphids range in length from about a sixteenth of an inch to rather less than a quarter of an inch.

The aphid has a soft, round body, which is white or pink (sometimes darker) in color. Some forms are winged, others wingless. Some are produced from eggs, others are born alive from the body of the female.

The aphids live in dense colonies, made up of thousands upon thousands of individuals. The fertility of this little insect is almost unbelievable.

It has been estimated that if all the descendants of just one aphid survived and produced other aphids for ten generations -- the tenth generation would weigh more than five hundred million men!

The aphid lives only to eat. It fixes upon the leaves, stems, and blossom of plants. It pierces the tissues with its beak and greedily sucks up the sap.

Its appetite is enormous. It feeds and feeds and as it does so, it grows plumper and plumper.

At the same time a sweet, sticky substance called honeydew begins to ooze from the hind part of its body.

Aphids attack many different kinds of plants -- roses and flowers being the ones we are most familiar with. They also attack fruit trees, vines, corn, potatoes, cabbages, beans, hops and many other important timber trees.

A single aphid is so small that it could do no harm with talking about. However, a colony of aphids, can, if left free to develop, drain the life out of the vegetation of an entire countryside. It not only can, there has been instances in history where it has devastated crops of some countries.

Fortunately for us, the aphid, one of the most defenseless of creatures, is a prey to many enemies. To these enemies, the little insect, simply dripping with honeydew, is like a delicious bit of chocolate on the hoof, so to speak.

Ladybugs (ladybirds) love them. The larvae of lacewings feast on them. Parasites grow and thrive in their bodies.

Fortunately for mankind, the ranks of aphids are constantly thinned by these enemies. They are thinned also by man, who wars against them by spraying growing plants with various man-made solutions and insecticides. Yet, net generations of aphids are continually born and it is with the greatest difficulty that they are held in check.

The aphid has one defender in the insect world -- the ant. This insect has a sweet tooth and is particularly fond of the aphid's honeydew.

Instead of killing the aphid, the ant keeps the meek little creature alive and "milks" its honeydew from time to time.

Here's a Year In the Life of A Corn Root Aphid Thanks To Ants

Fields of corn are often ruined by the corn root aphid if the farmer is not careful. In January, February and March, in the nests of the small brown ant there will be piles of eggs of the corn root aphid.

On warm days ants bring the eggs to the surface so that they may receive the air and benefit by the warmth of the sun. On very cold days, they carry them farther down into the unfrozen earth for protection.

In April and May the eggs of the aphids hatch out. The ants carry the young aphids to the roots of the smartweed and foxtail grass. By the end of May, the aphids begin to produce young, both winged and wingless.

As soon as the corn crop is growing, the brown ants carry the aphids to the roots binging to them even the winged variety. All through the summer the aphids produce young.

All summer, the ants attend the aphids, burrowing around the roots of the corn and carrying the pests from corn stalk to corn stalk. In return, the aphids furnish sweet honeydew. The ants stroke the insects with their antennae, thus milking them like a cow is milked. All this time, the aphids are multiplying. An aphid produces eggs eight days after it is hatched.

Each generation takes about sixteen days. There are twelve generations each season. If all lived, there would be by the next spring -- a line measuring seven million eight hundred and fifty miles lines of aphids if they were laid out in a row.

 Aphids born in the summer are winged or wing-less females, but in September wingless forms are born which develop into ordinary males and females.  These females lay the glossy eggs of the aphid.