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Aphid Banker Plants - Photos and Videos

Future Projects: Mites, Thrips, and Whitefly Banker Plant Pages

Address any comments, suggestions, or complaints to: lsosborn@ufl.edu

PowerPoints:

Concept of Banker Plants - Lance Osborne

Demo-Projects - Lance Osborne

If the primary video does not work, you can download the Alternate Video for Windows Media Player by right-clicking it and choosing to "Save Target/Link as" and save it to your hard drive.

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Alternate VIDEO

This is video that shows the Oleander aphid (Aphis nerii Boyer de Fonscolombe) on a butterfly weed (Asclepias sp.). Note that some of the aphids have been parasitized by a small wasp an example of which can also been seen in the video.

http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/shrubs/oleander_aphid.htm

Alternate VIDEO

This video is of a ladybird beetle that can be commonly found on aphid banker plants when placed outside.

This photo is of the small ladybird beetle called Diomus terminatus.

Alternate VIDEO

This video is the small ladybird beetle called Diomus terminatus.

Alternate VIDEO

This is a video of a Diomus terminatus larva. Note how the larva uses the leg like a "straw" to remove the pre-digested aphid body contents. There is another ladybird beetle, Scymnus creperus, that is commonly found on milkweed banker plants.

The adult looks a lot like Diomus but the larval stage looks more like a mealybug (see the photo below). Note how the larva grasps the aphid by the leg. If you look closely you will notice how the leg expands and contracts as the larva feeds.

Photo

VIDEO

The larval stage of a predatory hover fly or syrphid (FAMILY SYRPHIDAE).

http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/beneficial/hover_fly.htm

PHOTOS OF OTHER ARTHROPODS YOU MIGHT SEE ON A MILKWEED BANKER PLANT

There are 3 points I want to make with this photo. First, the healthy aphids are yellow and there are two different kinds of mummies. One is the typical brown mummy that looks just like the aphid but swollen. These aphids were probably attacked by a wasp called Lysiphlebus testaceipes. The other mummy is black in color, does not appear swollen and was probably killed by a wasp in the Aphelinus genus.

This is a photo that also demonstrates the difference between aphids killed by 2 different wasp "types".↑

Ladybird beetle (FAMILY COCCINELLIDAE) eggs.

Ladybird beetle (FAMILY COCCINELLIDAE) larva of 2 different species.

Ladybird beetle (FAMILY COCCINELLIDAE) pupae.

Ladybird beetle (FAMILY COCCINELLIDAE) adult feeding on an aphid.

The adult stage of a predatory hover fly or syrphid (FAMILY SYRPHIDAE).

The pupal stage of a predatory hover fly or syrphid (FAMILY SYRPHIDAE).

The larval stages of a predatory hover fly or syrphid (FAMILY SYRPHIDAE).