''Aphis nerii'' is an

aphid Aphids are small sap-sucking insects and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white woolly aphids. A t ...

of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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/cro ...

. 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 contrast ...

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. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

and

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

s. In

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, 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 both ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Lifecycle

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

viviparity Among animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. This is opposed to oviparity which is a reproductive mode in which females lay developing eggs that complete their development and hatch externally from the m ...

. Female aphids reproduce by

parthenogenesis Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek grc, παρθένος, translit=parthénos, lit=virgin, label=none + grc, γένεσις, translit=génesis, lit=creation, label=none) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development ...

, males have never been observed in the wild but have been produced under laboratory conditions. Females may be wingless 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 o ...

), the production of the alate form occurs a higher rate in those regions where it is necessary for oleander aphid to migrate each year on to temporary hosts. Oleander aphid has a wide range of hosts, but mainly feeds on plants in the

dogbane family Apocynaceae (from ''Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members of the ...

, including

milkweeds ''Asclepias'' is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides, exuded where cells are damaged. Most species are toxic to humans ...

oleander ''Nerium oleander'' ( ), most commonly known as oleander or nerium, 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 ge ...

and periwinkle. It is occasionally recorded feeding on plants in the bindweed family,

daisy family The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

and

spurge ''Euphorbia'' is a very large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family Euphorbiaceae. "Euphorbia" is sometimes used in ordinary English to collectively refer to all members of Euphorbiaceae (in deference to t ...

family as well as rarely being recorded on

Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Lemon, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and lim ...

Virus Vector

Oleander aphid can act as a

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

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. Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1 ...

in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Potyvirus ''Potyvirus'' is a genus of positive-strand RNA viruses in the family ''Potyviridae''. Plants serve as natural hosts. The genus is named after member virus ''potato virus Y''. Potyviruses account for about thirty percent of the currently known ...

and

Cucumovirus ''Cucumovirus'' is a genus of viruses, in the family ''Bromoviridae''. Plants serve as natural hosts. There are four species in this genus. Taxonomy The following species are assigned to the genus: * ''Cucumber mosaic virus'' * '' Gayfeather mil ...

. The following viruses are known to be vectored by oleander aphid: *'' Araujia mosaic virus'' *''

Bean yellow mosaic virus ''Bean yellow mosaic virus'' is a plant pathogenic virus in the genus ''Potyvirus'' and the virus family ''Potyviridae''. Like other members of the Potyvirus genus, it is a monopartite strand of positive-sense, single-stranded RNA surrounded by ...

'' *'' Bittergourd mosaic virus'' *''

Citrus tristeza virus Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) is a viral species of the genus ''Closterovirus'' that causes the most economically damaging disease to its namesake plant genus, ''Citrus''. The disease has led to the death of millions of ''Citrus'' trees all over ...

'' *''

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 tra ...

'' *'' 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 Tobacco etch virus (TEV) is a plant virus in the genus ''Potyvirus'' and family ''Potyviridae''. Like other members of the genus ''Potyvirus'', TEV has a monopartite positive-sense, single-stranded RNA genome surrounded by a capsid made from a s ...

'' *''

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 ''Zucchini yellow mosaic virus'' (ZYMV) is an aphid-borne potyvirus, regarded as a major pathogen of cucurbits in most regions of the world where these crops are cultivated. ZYMV affects all cucurbits including pumpkins, squashes, vegetable m ...

Photos

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

Nerium oleander ''Nerium oleander'' ( ), most commonly known as oleander or nerium, 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 ge ...

'' 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'' 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 The Aphidiinae are a subfamily of tiny parasitoid wasps that use aphids as their hosts. Several species have been used in biological control programs of various aphids. Biology and distribution Aphidiines are koinobiont endoparasitoids of ad ...

wasp, probably '' Lysiphlebus''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3620599

nerii The Nerii were an ancient Gallaecian Celts, Celtic tribe, living in the north of modern Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in the Costa da Morte region. Celtici Nerii are mentioned for the first time on a tombstone on the grave of a Galician nerio called Tá ...

Insects described in 1841 Taxa named by Étienne Laurent Joseph Hippolyte Boyer de Fonscolombe