Pseudacaudella rubida (Börner, 1939)

Albrecht, Anders Christian, 2015, Identification guide to Nordic aphids associated with mosses, horsetails and ferns (Bryophyta, Equisetophyta, Polypodiophyta) (Insecta, Hemiptera, Aphidoidea), European Journal of Taxonomy 145, pp. 1-55 : 12-13

Pseudacaudella rubida (Börner, 1939)

Fig. 9

Diagnosis

Apterae 0.7–1.2 mm, shiny green, grey-green, olive or brown, sometimes with rusty patches. Halfgrown juveniles often brownish yellow. Adult apterae with transverse, partly fused, segmental sclerites on thorax and abdomen. Wax-dusted between sclerites and ventrally. Hibernating juveniles dark olive or purple, covered in a thick, easily cracking wax coating. Frontal tubercles undeveloped. Siphunculi with distinct apical constriction and flange. Can be found all year, during the cold season as hibernating nymphs. A ubiquitous species, occurring on a wide range of mosses on dry rock and stones, on the forest floor and in damp depressions of spruce and pine forests, fallow fields, deciduous forests, even submerged in forests swamps. Monoecious. Not ant-attended.

Recorded hosts

Amblystegiaceae : Sanioniauncinata*; Brachytheciaceae : Brachytheciumalbicans *, Pseudoscleropodium purum ; Sciuro-hypnum oedipodium*; Calliergonaceae : Calliergon cordifolium *; Climaciaceae : Climacium dendroides ; Dicranaceae : Dicranum ; Grimmiaceae : Racomitrium lanuginosum *; Hylocomiaceae : Hylocomium splendens *, Pleurozium schreberi *, Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus *; Hypnaceae : Calliergonella cuspidata ; Mniaceae : s.lat.; Polytrichaceae : Polytrichum commune *; Sphagnaceae : Sphagnum magellanicum *, recurvum; Thuidiaceae : Thuidium tamariscinum .

Distribution

D F S.

Figures

Fig. 9. Pseudacaudella rubida (Börner, 1939). A. Apt. and juv. from Hylocomium splendens sample (grid 1 mm). B. Apt. and C. hibernating juv. on Pleurozium schreberi. D–E. Hibernating juv on Calliergon cordifolium.