The Adelgidae are a small family of the

Hemiptera Hemiptera (; ) is an order (biology), order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, Reduviidae, assassin bugs, Cimex, bed bugs, and shield bugs. ...

closely related to the aphids, and often included in the Aphidoidea with the

Phylloxeridae Phylloxeridae is a small family of plant-parasitic hemipterans closely related to aphids with only 75 described species. This group comprises two subfamilies (Phylloxerininae and Phylloxerinae) and 11 genera with one that is fossil. The genus ...

or placed within the superfamily Phylloxeroidea as a sister of the Aphidoidea within the infraorder Aphidomorpha. The family is composed of species associated with pine,

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

, or other conifers, known respectively as "pine aphids" or "spruce aphids". This family includes the former family Chermesidae, or "Chermidae", the name of which was declared invalid by the

ICZN The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its publisher, the I ...

in 1955. There is still considerable debate as to the number of genera within the family, and the classification is still unstable and inconsistent among competing authors. There are about fifty species of adelgids known. All of them are native to the northern hemisphere, although some have been introduced to the southern hemisphere as

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

. Unlike aphids, the adelgids have no tail-like

cauda {{About, the musical feature The cauda is a characteristic feature of songs in the conductus style of '' a cappella'' music which flourished between the mid-12th and the mid-13th century. The conductus style placed strict rules on composition, and s ...

and no

cornicle The cornicle (or siphuncule) is one of a pair of small upright backward-pointing tubes found on the dorsal side of the 5th or 6th abdominal segments of aphids. They are sometimes mistaken for cerci. They are no more than pores in some species. ...

s.''Bugs of the World'', George C. McGumo
Facts on File
, 1993, Adelgids only lay eggs, and never give birth to live nymphs as aphids do. Adelgids are covered with dense woolly wax. A complete adelgid life cycle lasts two years. Adelgid nymphs are known as sistentes, and the overwintering sistentes are called neosistens. Rain can kill adelgids by dislodging eggs and sistentes from trees.''The Balsam Woolly Aphid Problem in Oregon and Washington''
Norman E. Johnson and Kenneth H. Wright, Research paper No. 18, United States Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, April, 1957 Balsam woolly adelgid

Genera

* ''

Adelges ''Adelges'' is a genus of insects which feed on conifers. Excepting galls formed by the spruce gall midge, galls are caused by aphid-like insects of the superfamily Phylloxeroidea (family Adelgidae) commonly known as the spruce gall adelgids. Th ...

'' Vallot, 1836 * ''

Aphrastasia ''Aphrastasia'' is a genus of true bugs belonging to the family Adelgidae. The genus is monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that ...

'' Börner, 1909 * '' Cholodkovskya'' Börner, 1909 * '' Dreyfusia'' Börner, 1908 * '' Eopineus'' Steffan, 1968 * '' Gilletteella'' Börner, 1930 * '' Pineus'' Shimer, 1869 * '' Sacchiphantes'' Curtis, 1844

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2562960 Insect pests of temperate forests Hemiptera families Taxa named by Henri Schouteden

Genera

See also

References

External links