Aphidinae, Latreille, 1802

Martin, Jon H. & Lau, Clive S. K., 2011, The Hemiptera-Sternorrhyncha (Insecta) of Hong Kong, China-an annotated inventory citing voucher specimens and published records, Zootaxa 2847, pp. 1-122 : 20-22

Aphidinae — Aphidini

Aphis citricola van der Goot (1912)

see Aphis spiraecola Patch (1914)

Aphis craccivora Koch (1854)

Samples in BMNH, from Hyacinthus sp. , Pisum sativum , Spinacia oleracea ,? Trifolium sp. , Vigna sesquipedalis and Zea mays , with legumes the normal hosts for this aphid species. Reported from HK by Tao (1999a) and by Lee & Winney (1981).

Aphis eugeniae van der Goot (1917)

Samples in BMNH, from Phyllanthus reticulatus and P. emblica on the Sai Kung Peninsula. The aphids are bright yellow to orange in life and thus easily seen and easily mistaken for A. nerii Boyer de Fonscalombe , q.v., below.

Aphis fabae s. sp. solanella Theobald (1914)

see Aphis solanella (Theobald, 1914)

Aphis glycines Matsumura (1917)

Single sample in BMNH, from Desmodium intortum at TLF.

Aphis gossypii Glover (1877)

Vouchers in BMNH from Averrhoa carambola , Capsicum frutescens , Chrysanthemum sp. , Colocasia esculenta , Duranta erecta [= D. repens ], Eucalyptus tereticornis , Hibiscus esculentus [= Abelmoschus esculentus ], H. rosa-sinensis , Pachystachys lutea , Psidium guajava , Vitex negundo and Zea mays . Reported from HK by Tao (1999a) and by Lee & Winney (1981). Also material in PPRD. This is one of the most common and polyphagous of worldwide aphid pests, probably comprising a number of cryptic species or races.

Aphis nerii Boyer de Fonscalombe (1841)

Samples in BMNH, from Nerium oleander (coll. Hill) and from Graphistemma pictum on HK Island. Reported from HK by Tao (1999a) and by Lee & Winney (1981). This species feeds on Nerium species and members of the Asclepiadaceae , where these bright yellow aphids with black cauda and siphunculi are immediately recognisable. Of similar appearance, but on euphorbiaceous hosts in HK, is A. eugeniae van der Goot (see above) whose body colour tends to vary from yellow to orange.

Aphis solanella (Theobald, 1914)

Single HK sample in BMNH, from Solanum nigrum at TLF. Probably this was the record reported by Lee & Winney (1981) as Aphis fabae -group. Until recently this blackish aphid remained a subspecies of A. fabae , as originally described by Theobald. However, Thieme & Dixon (2004) elevated it to full species status, accepted by Blackman & Eastop (2006).

Aphis spiraecola Patch (1914)

HK samples in BMNH, from Chrysanthemum morifolium , Emilia sonchifolia , Mikania guaco and Schefflera arboricola . Reported from HK by Tao (1999a) and by Lee & Winney (1981), under the name A. citricola van der Goot. A. citricola has recently been shown to be a junior synonym of A. fabae Scopoli , but many published records of A. citricola concern what is now recognised as A. spiraecola .

Aphis umbrella (Börner, 1950)

This record is unsafe and this species should not be retained on the HK check list. Single specimen, sifted from litter, was referred to by De Rougemont (2001). Lee & Winney (1981) also listed this species, but under its junior synonym A. malvae Koch (1854) , with no reference to the record’s source. We feel that Tao (1999a) was correct in not recording this species from HK.

Hyalopterus persikonus Miller, Lozier & Foottit , in Lozier et al. (2008)

Experimental data analysed by Lozier et al. (2008) revealed that a distinct species of Hyalopterus host-alternates between Prunus persica (the primary host) and Phragmites sp. or spp (secondary, summer, hosts in temperate regions). H. persikonus is difficult to distinguish morphologically from H. pruni (Geoffroy) whose primary hosts are Prunus spp of the domestica and amygdali groups, and it is likely that populations of both species are able to remain on Phragmites year-round in parts of the world where reeds do not die back in winter. Several HK voucher samples in BMNH, from Prunus persica (all from TLF), and two samples from Phragmites sp. , at Mai Po Marshes (NT) and Tai O (Lantau I.). Reported from HK by Tao (1999a) and by Lee & Winney (1981), as H. pruni .

Hyalopterus pruni (Geoffroy, 1762)

see Hyalopterus persikonus Miller, Lozier & Foottit , in Lozier et al. (2008).

Hysteroneura setariae (Thomas, 1878)

A native of North America ( Blackman & Eastop, 2000) this aphid is now tropicopolitan on grasses and sometimes other monocotyledonous plants, usually feeding on inflorescences. Several HK samples in BMNH, from Cyperus iria and the grasses Dactyloctenium aegyptium , Echinochloa colona , Eichhornia crassipes , Eleusine indica , Oryza sativa , Paspalum distichum , Panicum sp. , Pennisetum purpureum and undetermined Poaceae . Reported from HK by Tao (1999a) and by Lee & Winney (1981).

Longiunguis sacchari (Zehntner, 1897)

see Melanaphis sacchari (Zehntner, 1897)

Melanaphis bambusae (Fullaway, 1910)

Vouchers in BMNH, from unspecified bamboo hosts. This species was recorded from HK by van der Goot (1918) without reference to voucher specimens.

Melanaphis sacchari (Zehntner, 1897)

Samples in BMNH, from Paspalum distichum , Saccharum sp. , and S. spontaneum . Also reported from HK by Lee & Winney (1981).

Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch, 1856)

Samples in BMNH, from Zea mays (Pak Sha O and TLF) and undetermined grasses. Reported from HK by Tao (1999a) and by Lee & Winney (1981).

Rhopalosiphum nymphaeae (Linnaeus, 1761)

Single HK sample in BMNH, from Eichhornia crassipes at TLF. Reported from HK by Tao (1999a) and by Lee & Winney (1981).

Rhopalosiphum padi (Linnaeus, 1758)

Reported from HK by Tao (1999a) and by Lee & Winney (1981). Lee & Winney quoted tomato and Prunus mume as hosts, the tomato record almost certainly involving vagrant individuals [personal observation]. Material collected by the authors from P. mume has been determined as R. rufiabdominale and no HK material of R. padi is present in BMNH. However, it is considered likely that this species will prove to be present in HK, possibly occurring year-round on grasses.

Rhopalosiphum rufiabdominale (Sasaki, 1899)

Vouchers in BMNH, from Allium fistulosum , Avena sativa , Malus pumila , Prunus mume , Zea mays and light traps. Specimens on P. mume were feeding in large numbers on the bark of tree-base suckers at Pak Sha O (NT). Reported from HK by Tao (1999a) and by Lee & Winney (1981).

Toxoptera aurantii (Boyer de Fonscalombe, 1841)

Vouchers in BMNH, from Citrus sp. , Gordonia axillaris , Murraya paniculata and undetermined shrub. Reported from HK by Tao (1999a) and by Lee & Winney (1981). This common species colonises new growth of a wide variety of trees and shrubs throughout the tropics, subtropics and warm-temperate zones. T. aurantii is more common in HK than these few records would indicate.

Toxoptera citricidus (Kirkaldy, 1907)

HK material in BMNH comprises several samples from Citrus spp , along with two samples from Zanthoxylum sp. or spp from Ma On Shan Country Park (NT) and Peel Rise ( HK Island). Reported from HK by Tao (1999a) and by Lee & Winney (1981). Nieto Nafria et al. (2005) discussed the frequent spelling of this species name both as citricidus and citricida , and provided a careful argument for their conclusion that citricidus is the correct name despite being a masculine species name in combination with a feminine generic name.

Toxoptera odinae (van der Goot, 1917) (Fig. 24)

Vouchers in BMNH and PPRD, from Ailanthus fordii , Rhus hypoleuca , R. succedania , R. chinensis , Sapium sp. , S. sebiferum , Schefflera heptaphylla [= S. octophylla ], Zanthoxylum scandens , undetermined shrubs and TLF yellow pan traps. Reported from HK by Tao (1999a) and by Lee & Winney (1981). With body colour often coppery-brown, and siphunculi short and conical, T. odinae colonises a number of shrubs and some trees in tropical and subtropical Asia and (more recently) in Africa.

Toxoptera schlingeri Tao (1961)

Described from HK, the type sample having been collected by Dr Evert Schlinger on 27.ii.1961 ( Tao, 1961). Remaudière & Remaudière (1997) listed T. schlingeri as a junior synonym of T. aurantii , quoting Mondal et al. (1976): however, Blackman & Eastop (1994) retained it as a separate species “not or hardly distinguishable from T. aurantii ”. A single BMNH sample, from Ficus microcarpa at Pok Fu Lam, agrees with Tao’s description: this was sent for determination by Hill. Tao did not mention deposition of type material and the whereabouts of Schlinger’s material is unknown.

Toxoptera victoriae Martin (1991)

Described from Zanthoxylum scandens , growing in shrubbery on the bank of Pok Fu Lam Reservoir Road ( HK Island), in October 1990 ( Martin, 1991). Holotype in BMNH and paratypes deposited in BMNH, PPRD and USNM. This aphid was subsequently collected again in 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2005, always on HK Island and on the same host. In 2010 samples were collected from East Ping Chau Island on Zanthoxylum sp. and Z. nitidum . Other samples collected from Zanthoxylum spp have been determined as T. citricidus (q.v., above).