{"id":744,"date":"2015-12-28T04:18:49","date_gmt":"2015-12-28T04:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aphidtrek.org\/?page_id=744"},"modified":"2024-12-18T18:57:39","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T18:57:39","slug":"euceraphis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aphidtrek.org\/?page_id=744","title":{"rendered":"Euceraphis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Euceraphis<\/em> Walker<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

This is a genus of several species that feed on Betulaceae (Betula<\/em> and Alnus<\/em>).   Like most tree aphids, I don’t study them particularly, just try to put decent identifications on my samples.  Others have brought to bear better expertise on Euceraphis<\/em> than I could, especially a number of papers by Roger Blackman and co-authors, including: “A year in the life of a birch aphid<\/strong>.<\/a>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve had a lot of fun the past several years working on collecting lots of material of a putative new species of Euceraphis<\/em> that feeds on the “bog birch” species Betula glandulosa<\/em>.  This species is remarkable because most of the viviparae are wingless — the previous dogma was that all Euceraphis<\/em> viviparae are winged.  Before he died I sent to Roger Blackman a set of measurements I made of these apterous Euceraphis<\/em>. He had agreed that they should be considered Euceraphis<\/em>. But, as I made the measurements, I saw that there was quite a lot of morphological variability across the geographical range of my specimens. This actually made me wonder if somehow the host, Betula glandulosa<\/em>, was causing winglessness in otherwise winged Euceraphis<\/em>. It seems like a crazy idea, but it was clear to me that this situation is not simple. I have material of wingless Euceraphis<\/em> from Oregon, Idaho, California, Wyoming, and Colorado.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a>
The wingless Euceraphis from the Warner Mountains in the Fremont Winema National Forest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Euceraphis betulae<\/em> Koch<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This species is common on birches in western North America, apparently introduced from Europe.  As noted by others, it is notoriously variable in appearance and is a taxonomically challenging species or species-complex.  I am intrigued in variability as simple but dramatic as the degree of wax secretions as demonstrated by photos below.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Euceraphis<\/a>
Euceraphis betulae from eastern Washington in October; a winged female with scant wax.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Euceraphis<\/a>
Euceraphis betulae, a waxier form collected at the same time as the specimen above.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Euceraphis gillettei<\/em> Davidson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In western North America this aphid is common in natural systems wherever Alnus<\/em> (alder) grows.  As noted by Blackman and Eastop, this name might be used for more than one species.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Euceraphis<\/a>
Euceraphis gillettei on alder in the San Juan Islands of Washington.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Euceraphis Walker This page updated: December 2024. This is a genus of several species that feed on Betulaceae (Betula and Alnus).   Like most tree aphids, I don’t study them particularly, just try to put decent identifications on my samples.  Others have brought to bear better expertise on Euceraphis than I could, especially a number of papers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":256,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-744","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aphidtrek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aphidtrek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aphidtrek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aphidtrek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aphidtrek.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=744"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/aphidtrek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2306,"href":"https:\/\/aphidtrek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/744\/revisions\/2306"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aphidtrek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aphidtrek.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}