''Aphis nerii'' is an

aphid Aphids are small sap-sucking insects in the Taxonomic rank, family Aphididae. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white Eriosomatinae, woolly ...

of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Aphididae The Aphididae are a very large insect family in the aphid superfamily ( Aphidoidea), of the order Hemiptera. These insects suck the sap from plant leaves. Several thousand species are placed in this family, many of which are considered plant/cr ...

. Its

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

s include oleander aphid, milkweed aphid, sweet pepper aphid, and nerium aphid.

Distribution

The oleander aphid is widespread in regions with

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

and

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

s. In

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, oleander aphid has only been reported from a glasshouse. Small populations of oleander aphid are present in

gardens A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England.

Lifecycle

Female aphids lay live young (nymphs), a process known as

viviparity In animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the mother, with the maternal circulation providing for the metabolic needs of the embryo's development, until the mother gives birth to a fully or partially developed juv ...

. Female aphids reproduce by

parthenogenesis Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek + ) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which the embryo develops directly from an egg without need for fertilization. In animals, parthenogenesis means the development of an embryo from an unfertiliz ...

. Males have never been observed in the wild but have been produced under laboratory conditions. Females may be

wingless In cellular biology, the Wnt signaling pathways are a group of signal transduction pathways which begin with proteins that pass signals into a cell through cell surface receptors. The name Wnt, pronounced "wint", is a portmanteau created from the ...

or winged (

alate Alate (Latin ''ālātus'', from ''āla'' (“wing”)) is an adjective and noun used in entomology and botany to refer to something that has wings or winglike structures. In entomology In entomology, "alate" usually refers to the winged form of ...

), the production of the alate form occurs at a higher rate in regions where the aphid must migrate to temporary hosts each year. Oleander aphid has a wide range of hosts, but mainly feeds on plants in the dogbane family, including milkweeds,

oleander ''Nerium oleander'' ( ), commonly known as oleander or rosebay, is a shrub or small tree cultivated worldwide in temperate and subtropical areas as an ornamental and landscaping plant. It is the only species currently classified in the genus ...

and periwinkle. It is occasionally recorded feeding on plants in the bindweed family, daisy family and spurge family as well as rarely being recorded on

Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

Virus Vector

Oleander aphid can act as a

vector Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics a ...

viruses A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are found in almo ...

in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Potyvirus ''Potyvirus'' is a genus of positive-strand RNA viruses (named after its type species, potato virus Y, Potato virus Y (''Potyvirus yituberosi,'' PVY)'')'' in the family ''Potyviridae''. Plants serve as natural hosts. Like begomoviruses, members ...

and Cucumovirus. The following viruses are known to be vectored by oleander aphid: *'' Araujia mosaic virus'' *'' Bean yellow mosaic virus'' *'' Bittergourd mosaic virus'' *''

Citrus tristeza virus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is native to S ...

'' *''

Cucumber mosaic virus Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is a plant pathogenic virus in the family ''Bromoviridae''. This virus has a worldwide distribution and a very wide host range, having the reputation of the widest host range of any known plant virus. It can be transmi ...

'' *'' Lentil mosaic virus'' *''

Papaya ringspot virus ''Papaya ringspot virus'' (PRSV) is a pathogenic plant virus in the genus ''Potyvirus'' and the virus family ''Potyviridae'' which primarily infects the papaya tree. The virus is a non-enveloped, flexuous rod-shaped particle that is between 760& ...

'' *'' Tobacco etch virus'' *''

Watermelon mosaic virus ''Watermelon mosaic virus'' (WMV) also known as Marrow mosaic virus (Raychaudhuri and Varma, 1975; Varma, 1988), Melon mosaic virus (Iwaki et al., 1984; Komuro, 1962), and until recently Watermelon mosaic virus type 2 (WMV-2), is a plant pathogen ...

'' *'' Zucchini yellow mosaic virus''

Photos

File:Aphis-nerii.jpg, Colony on ''

Nerium oleander ''Nerium oleander'' ( ), commonly known as oleander or rosebay, is a shrub or small tree cultivated worldwide in temperate and subtropical areas as an ornamental and landscaping plant. It is the Monotypic taxon, only species currently classifi ...

'' File:Aphis nerii on common milkweed.jpg, Colony on ''

Asclepias syriaca ''Asclepias syriaca'', commonly called common milkweed, butterfly flower, silkweed, silky swallow-wort, and Virginia silkweed, is a species of flowering plant. It is native to southern Canada and much of the United States east of the Rocky Moun ...

'' (common milkweed) File:Aphis nerii colony.jpg , Colony on ''

Asclepias curassavica ''Asclepias curassavica'', commonly known as tropical milkweed, is a flowering plant species of the milkweed genus, ''Asclepias''. It is native to the Neotropical realm, American tropics and has a pantropical distribution as an introduced species ...

'' File:Aphis nerii colony on Asclepias oenotheroides.jpg , Colony on '' Asclepias oenotheroides'' File: Aphis nerii on common milkweed 2.jpg, Colony on ''Asclepias syriaca'' inflorescence File:Aphis nerii parasitized.jpg, Mummified aphids, parasitized by Aphidiinae wasp, probably '' Lysiphlebus''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3620599 Hemiptera of North America nerii Insects described in 1841 Taxa named by Étienne Laurent Joseph Hippolyte Boyer de Fonscolombe