Anoecia corni

(Fabricius, 1775)

dogwood aphid, common dogwood-grass aphid, dogwood-grass aphid

Anoecia corni is a subterranean that alternates between dogwood trees and grass roots during its . Native to Europe, it has been introduced to North America. The species feeds primarily on xylem tissues and has been recorded as a pest of millets. It maintains associations with bacterial endosymbionts including the obligate Buchnera aphidicola and several facultative symbionts.

Anoecia corni apterous fundatrices on Cornus sanguinea by InfluentialPoints.com. Used under a CC BY 3.0 license.Anoecia corni1 by This image is created by user Ad Sonnemans at Waarneming.nl, a source of nature observations in the Netherlands. . Used under a CC BY 3.0 license.Anoecia corni (53130166579) by Gilles San Martin from Namur, Belgium. Used under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license.

Pronunciation

How to pronounce Anoecia corni: /əˈniːʃə ˈkɔrnaɪ/

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Habitat

Subterranean environment on roots of grasses and sedges (Poaceae, Cyperaceae); spring occurs on dogwood (Cornus sanguinea). Specimens have been collected on wheat roots in Morocco.

Distribution

Native to Europe; introduced to North America. Holarctic distribution with records from Morocco (Béni Mellal-Khénifra and Casablanca-Settat regions) and the Azores (Flores, Pico, São Jorge, São Miguel, Santa Maria).

Diet

Feeds on xylem tissues of roots; also feeds on dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) during spring .

Host Associations

  • Triticum sp. - wheat roots
  • Cornus sanguinea - dogwood, spring
  • Poaceae - grasses, summer
  • Cyperaceae - sedges, summer

Life Cycle

Holocyclic dioecious . hatch on dogwood in spring, producing fundatrices. migrate from dogwood to grass and sedge roots in summer. Wingless parthenogenetic females occur during the subterranean phase.

Behavior

Subterranean lifestyle with close contact to rhizosphere microbial . occurs between dogwood (spring) and grass/sedge roots (summer). Frequently attended by ants during the root-feeding phase.

Ecological Role

Acts as for bacterial endosymbionts: Buchnera aphidicola (obligate nutritional , at 96.23% of bacterial reads), Serratia symbiotica, (rare in aphids, significance unknown), Arsenophonus, and Dactylopiibacterium carminicum.

Human Relevance

Recorded as a pest of millets.

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Sources and further reading