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Photo#1091936
Aphids - Plocamaphis flocculosa

Aphids - Plocamaphis flocculosa
Oso Flaco Lake, San Luis Obispo County, California, USA
June 27, 2015
Size: ~3mm
Very large aphids feeding on woody branch of arroyo willow (Salix lasiolepis). No ants observed, but I did see them "shooting out" honeydew. These were comparable in size to the Giant Willow Aphids (Tuberolachnus salignus) also infesting these trees.

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Nice detective work!

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Moved from Pterocomma.

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Moved from Giant Aphids.

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Less covered in fluff

ID
I thought these would be an easy ID when I photographed them, but haven't been able to turn anything up. With the orange siphunculi they resemble a woolly form of Pterocomma salicis.

 
Pterocomma flocculosa
From Timberlake, P. H. 1883-1981. New Genera And Species of Encyrtinae From California Parasitic In Mealybugs (Hymenoptera). Berkeley: University of California press, 1918. This species has been documented on arroyo willow (Salix lasiolepis), and it's noted that "this bark feeder is at once distinguished by the partial covering of thin white wool and the bright orange cornicles." Photos of this species on http://aphidtrek.org/?page_id=1025 are a good match too.

 
Plocamaphis flocculosa
From http://aphid.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/Taxa.aspx?TaxonNameID=1170752 Plocamaphis flocculosa is the current name

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