Explanation of Names
Latin for "of Nerium". Nerium is the Latin name for oleander.
Identification
Yellow-orange aphids with black spines, common on milkweed, oleander.
Range
Cosmopolitan, originally from Mediterranean region.
Food
Feed on the sap of plants in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, including milkweeds (formerly in their own family, the Asclepiadaceae).
Best-known hosts: Oleander, Milkweed, and Vinca.
Life Cycle
Males are apparently absent from North American populations--reproduction is by parthenogenesis. Sometimes attended by ants? (References are contradictory.)
Remarks
Like the Monarch and related butterflies, they pick up deadly cardiac glucosides from the host plant and deposit them in their bodies. Their bright orange color serves as a warning to predators- at best they taste awful, at worst they can kill.
Print References
Cranshaw, p. 306, p. 309 fig. B
(2)Contributed by
Cotinis on 25 August, 2004 - 7:52pm
Additional contributions by
Chuck EntzLast updated 9 December, 2006 - 12:09pm
