Peach-potato aphid
The peach-potato aphid is a tiny green bug, only about 2 millimetres long. It sucks the sweet juice out of plants like peach trees, potatoes and cabbages. It is one of the garden's biggest troublemakers, and a favourite snack for ladybirds.
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Fun facts
For most of the year the mothers have babies without any dads, and the babies are born alive instead of hatching from eggs.
A baby aphid can have babies of its own when it is only about 10 days old.
In mild places there can be more than 20 generations in one year.
It carries plant illnesses from plant to plant, like potato viruses.
It can be green, yellow, pink, red or brown, depending on its food and the weather.
Most asked questions about Peach-potato aphid
?Are aphids harmful to people?
No. They cannot bite or sting people. They only suck plant juice.
?How do I get rid of aphids in my garden?
Ladybirds and their larvae love to eat aphids, so a garden with ladybirds has fewer aphids.
?How big is the peach-potato aphid?
About 2 millimetres long, smaller than a grain of rice.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Myzus persicae
- Named by
- Sulzer, 1776
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Aphididae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Aphididae
- Lives on
- Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Green peach aphid, Greenfly
Where the facts come from
- Myzus persicae (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Scott Bauer. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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