Winged Aphid - Drepanosiphum

Moved

Moved from Drepanosiphum oregonensis.
I just decided to run these images by Andy Jensen, who took the photo that my ID of this aphid was based on, and he confirmed that it is a Drepanosiphum but recommended sticking with a genus-level ID in the absence of a slide-mounted specimen.

… Charley Eiseman, 17 May, 2011 - 12:06pm

Moved

Moved from Aphids.

… Charley Eiseman, 3 December, 2009 - 4:03pm

Euceraphis, maybe?

Do you have any images that would show what kind of leaf this is?

… Charley Eiseman, 3 December, 2009 - 1:08am

No leaf photo but...

I have added a photo of the 'tree' as it looks today (without leaves). Hope this helps. Mardon

… Mardon Erbland, 3 December, 2009 - 8:36am

Thanks...

Those trees have opposite branching, so not birch. Red maple, maybe? A shot of the buds would confirm.

Of course, if there was just this one winged aphid, it's possible that it flew from another tree nearby, and just happened to be resting there.

… Charley Eiseman, 3 December, 2009 - 10:13am

There were lots...

of winged aphids on these trees. This was not a loner. I've added two photos showing what the buds look like as of today.

… Mardon Erbland, 3 December, 2009 - 1:19pm

Thanks again...

This is definitely an Acer, either maple or boxelder. I just googled Euceraphis + Acer, and I came to this page, which has an image of Drepanosiphum oregonensis, which feeds on maple, that just happened to be next to an image of an alder-feeding Euceraphis. They belong to different subfamilies, so I wasn't even close, but D. oregonensis looks like a perfect match for your aphid. The same image is used at Aphid Species File, so I think we can trust it.

… Charley Eiseman, 3 December, 2009 - 3:59pm

Norway Maple?

One possibility for the tree species is Norway maple (Acer platanoides), commonly planted as an introduced ornamental tree. The PLANTS database does not show it as a naturalized species in Newfoundland or Labrador (but this would be the case if it exists there only in cultivation) although it is recorded from all adjacent provinces and states. A confirming test would be to see if the twigs contain milky sap.

… John Pearson, 9 December, 2009 - 10:25pm

Wow!

I agree that the Drepanosiphum oregonensis image you found looks like an exact match. Great detective work. Thanks for your help.

… Mardon Erbland, 3 December, 2009 - 4:11pm