Further Observations on Astegopteryx styracicola (Homoptera : Pemphigidae), an Aphid Species with Soldiers Biting Man

概要

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Some wingless individuals of Astegopteryx styracicola readily fall on man from galls made on snowbell trees and cause an intense irritation of the skin. In the light of the hypothesis that A. styracicola has sterile soldiers which fall from the gall and bite man, and that predation on galls by arboreal mammals is responsible for the evolution of this behavior, the following observations were made : 1) Of 50 soldiers placed on the hand, 45 bit the skin within a minute, whereas only one of 50 apterous adults bit within a minute. 2) Of 3972 individuals collected by shaking the galls, 3970 were soldiers. 3) All the aphids collected on twigs and leaves (349 individuals) were soldiers. 4) Soldiers attacked syrphid larvae placed on the gall. 5) Mice scratched their faces and backs intensely when soldiers were scattered on them. 6) When a place on the gall surface was pecked with a pincette, the nearby soldiers became excited and walked around, raising their posterior abdominal segments.
日本昆虫学会の論文
1979-06-25