Red Goldenrod Aphid - Uroleucon

Moved

Moved from Red Goldenrod Aphid.

Uroleucon is a complicated genus. It's one of the largest in the family with over 200 species, and it needs to be revised. The aphidologist who taught me has been studying aphids longer than I’ve been alive, and he always said not to even bother trying to ID Uroleucon because it was a mess. He had studied some, thought two specimens looked very similar and were the same species but after molecular analysis found they were not the same species, and there were others that looked very different but molecular analysis showed they were different species. I don’t agree that absolutely none of them can be identified, I have confidently identified them to species, but with hostplant species and slide mounted specimens. Other aphidologists tend to have the same opinion, which is why none of them have placed U. nigrotuberculatum to species level here on BugGuide, and I never see them doing it on iNat either.

https://influentialpoints.com/Gallery/Uroleucon_aphids.htm
http://www.aphidsonworldsplants.info/C_HOSTS_Seq_Sop.htm#Solidago

… Natalie Hernandez, 19 July, 2023 - 10:37am

Moved

Moved from Brown Ambrosia Aphid.

… Jason D. Roberts, 26 April, 2010 - 11:19pm

We need your help

There are a number of images in the family Aphididae that look like yours. In fact I have some that I haven't submitted yet.
Can you ID them to species? Can you tell us how to ID them? That would be very helpful.

… Beatriz Moisset, 20 December, 2007 - 8:53am

Not much to offer

Honestly, I'm not sure of how much help I can be. I had help from my local UGA extension office to ID mine. Basically what they told me is that the Brown Ambrosia Aphids were a very dull, dusky red, whereas the Goldenglow Aphids (Dactynotus rudbeckiae) are very bright red and smaller.

Also, when I first was researching these guys I found conflicting taxonomic info. However, it seems that the correct names are Brown Ambrosia Aphid, Uroleucon ambrosiae and GoldenGlow Aphid, Dactynotus rudbeckiae.

If you'd like I can offer my opinion on the photos in question and perhaps a consensus can be reached on some or all of them? ...

… Jason D. Roberts, 20 December, 2007 - 8:33pm