Mealy Plum Aphid (Hyalopterus pruni) - Hyalopterus pruni

Photo settings

I don't know about the aphids; still waiting for an expert to come along and help us. You can also consult your local agricultural extension service. Sometimes they are helpful sometimes they aren't. We may have to move this up; I am not totally convinced about this ID.
But I could make a couple of suggestions about your photo settings that could help you in the future. Your camera is as good or better than mine and I see that you used: F-number 4, ISO 100 and exposure time 1/800s.
It would be better to use a higher F number, my camera goes up to 8, others go even higher. Use the lowest ISO such as 80 to reduce graininess. In this case you didn't need such a short exposure time since the bugs weren't moving much; so by changing it to 1/100 or so, it would allow you to choose the best F and ISO for your purposes: better focus, less graininess.

… Beatriz Moisset, 26 November, 2009 - 9:54am

Old

Old photo I've changed a lot of my out and about insect shot strategies but thank you. Also if you see the comments below it would seem that the people that made the ID are fairly certain.

… Cody R. Hough, 22 December, 2009 - 10:45pm

"the people" seems to be me, and I just did my best to make a case using info I found with google.

… John R. Maxwell, 22 December, 2009 - 11:53pm

Guess ...

I didn't notice it was just you. I don't this is an older image I don't keep all my comments sorted out I guess haha.

… Cody R. Hough, 23 December, 2009 - 12:14am

Moved

Moved from Aphids.

… John R. Maxwell, 13 April, 2008 - 12:38pm

ID justification

This page states that this species can be found on reed grass or cattails in July.
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r611301711.html
And it looks like this image found here
http://www.aphidweb.com/Aphids%20of%20Karnataka/images/Hyalopteruspruni/hyalopterus-pruni.jpg
Distribution is also shown here
http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/H/Hyalopterus_pruni.asp

… John R. Maxwell, 13 April, 2008 - 12:34pm

Moved

Moved from Aphids.

… Cody R. Hough, 26 March, 2008 - 2:35pm

Looks like

Mealy Plum Aphid (Hyalopterus pruni)
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r611301711.html
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/C611/m611fpaphid.html
http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/H/Hyalopterus_pruni.asp
http://www.aphidweb.com/Aphids%20of%20Karnataka/Hyalopteruspruni.htm
http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/subimages.cfm?sub=8158
http://jenny.tfrec.wsu.edu/opm/displaySpecies.php?pn=440
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/IPMPROJECT/1998/98biorational.html

Maybe Beatriz will comment, she's a fan of aphids :-)

… John R. Maxwell, 26 March, 2008 - 8:38am

Image

The one you submitted was still bigger than 560x560 (395x642), so I changed to this one. I also tried to clean up the image a little, maybe too much. You can put your picture back if you don't like it.

… John R. Maxwell, 26 March, 2008 - 8:25am

Thanks

It's okay, I just thougt it started looking a little fake at this zoom level but if it will help more its okay.

… Cody R. Hough, 26 March, 2008 - 8:32am

Image

I may have over focused, but the image is still one of the better ones of this species (if it is what I think) on the web. I also wanted to get the reddish ones, because they are in the aphidweb image, too.

… John R. Maxwell, 26 March, 2008 - 8:44am