Sipha Passerini, 1860

Halbert, Susan E., Miller, Gary L. & Ames, Lisa M., 2013, The genus Sipha Passerini (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in North America, Insecta Mundi 2013 (326), pp. 1-6 : 2

Sipha Passerini ( Hemiptera : Aphididae ) in North America

Species of Sipha can be distinguished from other species of aphids that feed on Gramineae by their spiny setae, very short siphunculi, short cauda, and their five-segmented antennae. A closely related genus, Atheroides Haliday , is represented by a single exotic species in British Columbia ( Forbes and Chan 1989), Quebec ( Richards 1972), and New Brunswick ( Jensen et al. 2008), CANADA, and Montana, U.S.A. ( Jensen et al. 2008). Atheroides can be separated from Sipha by its poriform siphunculi and long narrow body. One obscure genus on Gramineae, Cryptaphis Hille Ris Lambers , also has spiny setae, but the antennae are six-segmented, and the siphunculi are tubular.

Both subgenera of Sipha are represented in North America. Species placed in Sipha sensu stricto have knobbed caudas. In North America, these include our two native species, Sipha agropyronensis ( Gillette 1911) and Sipha flava ( Forbes 1884) . The latter species, the yellow sugarcane aphid, is a significant pest on numerous grasses and cereal crops. A third species in the nominate subgenus, Sipha glyceriae ( Kaltenbach 1843) , was reported in North America in 1909 ( Patch 1910). In other parts of the world, it is a serious pest of rice ( Olmi and Villani 1975). So far, there are no observations of similar damage to the North American rice crop.

Species placed in Sipha (Rungsia) have short, unconstricted caudas. Both North American species in this subgenus are exotic. They include Sipha (Rungsia) elegans del Guercio 1905, which has been established at least since 1949 ( Foottit et al. 2006), and the recently reported S. maydis ( Sorensen 2007) . Both species are known pests.