Formation of long‐lasting galls by overwintered nymphs in the Japanese aphid Quadrartus yoshinomiyai (Hemiptera: Aphididae: Hormaphidinae)

Abstract

This paper examines the life history of a generation of galls created by the aphid Quadrartus yoshinomiyai (Hormaphidinae: Nipponaphidini) on its primary host plant, Distylium racemosum. First‐instar fundatrix nymphs of Q. yoshinomiyai initiated galls on stems of developing shoots in early April and incipient enclosed galls were found from later the same month. The galls lasted for up to 14 months, during which they grew to maturity, opened in early or mid‐April of the following year and dried up by the end of June. First‐instar fundatrix nymphs were found on winter buds, indicating that they hatched from eggs in autumn and overwintered as nymphs. These results suggest that Q. yoshinomiyai has a three‐year life cycle.

Plant Manipulation by Gall-Forming Social Aphids for Waste Management

“…Then, winged adults of a different type, called sexuparae, appear and return to the primary host plant to produce sexual females and males, where they mate and lay fertilized overwintering eggs that are to be fundatrices in next spring. Note that some hormaphidine species have multi-year life cycles, where they develop galls that last for over a year and thereby attain large colony sizes (Kurosu and Aoki, 2009; Aoki and Kurosu, 2010; Uematsu and Shibao, 2014). In addition to these morphs, many, if not all, gall-forming aphids are known to be social with altruistic morphs called “soldiers,” which are typically first- or second-instar nymphs specialized for colony defense (Stern and Foster, 1996; Abbot and Chapman, 2017).…”