{"id":32,"date":"2015-04-03T00:41:18","date_gmt":"2015-04-03T00:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aphidtrek.org\/?page_id=32"},"modified":"2024-12-27T18:04:58","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T18:04:58","slug":"abstrusomyzus","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aphidtrek.org\/?page_id=32","title":{"rendered":"Abstrusomyzus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Abstrusomyzus<\/a>
Abstrusomyzus phloxae feeding on Apocynum, causing the typical leaf tissue yellowing that occurs on this host.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Abstrusomyzus<\/em> Jensen & Stoetzel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This page updated: December 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So this is a genus that I named back in my postdoc days at the U.S. National Museum collection in Beltsville, Maryland. Manya Stoetzel was my supervisor and mentor in those days, and gave me more support and kindness through grad school and postdoc than I perhaps deserved. In the days of this Abstrusomyzus<\/em> work, she gave me latitude to work on this relatively obscure group, probably because I had a lot of material and a strong case for a new genus even before I finished my Ph.D. Plus, A. phloxae<\/em> appears to be an unusually polyphagous species, a characteristic worth knowing about from an agricultural perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jensen, A.S. <\/strong>and M.B. Stoetzel. 1999. An examination of the North American aphid species currently placed in Ovatus<\/em> van der Goot (Hemiptera: Aphididae) with the description of a new genus. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington<\/em> 101: 39-56.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2013 I discovered the sexual cycle of a species of Abstrusomyzus<\/em> on roots and runners of  Achillea millefolium<\/em> near Boise, Idaho.  I have identified the species as A. leucocrini<\/em>, but I am starting to question the species boundaries that I wrote about when describing the genus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twice now I’ve been contacted to help identify an Abstrusomyzus<\/em> on Cannabis<\/em> (marijuana).  See below for a little more information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Abstrusomyzus leucocrinae<\/em> (Gillette & Palmer)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This species has been a mystery to me since before my 1999 paper on this genus. This is what I wrote about it back then, “This species was described from several collections made by L.C. Bragg from Fort Collins, Colorado, in May of 1916. The aphids were found on Leucocrinum montanum<\/em>, a small herb of the Liliaceae. We know of no other collections of this aphid from Leucocrinum<\/em>. There are a few individual alate viviparae found in traps and on various plants that seem to be this species, but lack of good host plant records makes any deductions about the biology of this species difficult. The presence of many apterous and alate viviparae on an herb (Leucocrinum<\/em>) in May suggests a monoecious life cycle. Further collecting will be needed to determine whether this species is monophagous on Leucocrinum<\/em>, or feeds on
other plants as well.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then I have identified this species only 4 times, all collected from the below ground parts of Achillea millefolium<\/em> in more or less natural systems. These included apterae, oviparae, and apterous males. I have never been able to look for this aphid on Leucocrinum<\/em> in Colorado, but when this plant genus has been encountered elsewhere (especially southeastern Oregon), no aphids were found. I cannot be sure that what I find on Achillea<\/em> is the same species as the populations described as A. leucocrini<\/em> from Leucocrinum<\/em>, but they fit the morphological features reasonably well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My samples of this species are from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a>
An apterous vivipara identified as Abstrusomyzus leucocrinae collected from below ground parts of Achilllea near my house when I lived in central Washington. Slide #AJ4800.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>
An apterous vivipara identified as Abstrusomyzus leucocrinae collected from below ground parts of Achilllea on the Grand Mesa in Colorado. Slide #AJ12658.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>
An ovipara identified as Abstrusomyzus leucocrinae collected from below ground parts of Achilllea near Boise, Idaho. Slide #AJ6963.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Abstrusomyzus phloxae<\/em> (Sampson)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is apparently a polyphagous species that is distributed across much of North America, but seems to be only locally common. One such area was the Willamette Valley and surroundings in Oregon back in the 1990s. This was the place and time that I discovered the species’ polyphagy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have collected it on, or seen samples from, many different plants including,<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"The<\/a>
The aptera of A. phloxae on Apocynum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n