GREEN PEACH APHID
Size
Life span
Habitat
Facts
1.8 - 2 mm long
up to 23 days
A variety of habitats in temperate and tropical regions. They are found on or near their food plants such as fruit trees (peach/plum/cherry) and many vegetable plants (brocolli, cabbage, carrot, corn, peas, beans).
Appearance
They have a large rounded body that ranges from pale green to black and pink and have 3 prongs on their abdomen known as cornicles.
The winged aphids have a thinner body, black legs, head and thorax and the eggs are shiny and black.
In the spring aphid eggs begin to hatch when the plants they are on begin growing again such as peach trees. They hatch as smaller versions of the adults called nymphs and do not go through a pupal stage.
They use their sucking mouthparts called stylets to feed on plant sap and it only takes 4-5 days for them to become adults. The aphids can now reproduce by parthogenesis where they give birth to live clones of themselves up to once a day.
These clones also reproduce by parthogenesis when they are adults; after 3-4 generations the aphids start producing winged aphids which can fly off to find other host plants and colonise them.
These winged females also give birth in the same way and produce wingless aphids. The next generations alternate between winged and wingless and spread even further until the end of summer when both winged males and female are produced.
(These are not my images)
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All the aphid generations apart from those in late summer reproduce by parthogenesis without a mate
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Sexually reproducing females are usually a pink colour
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Aphids can produce up to 21 generations per year
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It only takes 10-12 days per generation
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Aphids can live up to 23 days but are usually eaten by lady birds and other predators well before then
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Some ants actually 'milk' the aphids for the honeydew they secrete so protect them from predators and move them to fresh plants
These aphids will then land on a fruit tree or another plant in a sheltered area and the females again give birth to live nymphs; however this time the female nymphs are able to reproduce sexually.
The winged males mate with these aphids which then lay eggs in bark crevices and buds to protect their eggs which are the only ones to survive through the winter for next spring.