Spiny witch-hazel gall aphid
The spiny witch-hazel gall aphid is a tiny aphid from North America. It makes witch hazel bushes grow a strange home for its babies. The home is a little bump covered in curved spines, like a tiny hedgehog.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The spiny bump, called a gall, grows out of a witch hazel flower bud. It is about 2 centimetres long.
Its whole life cycle takes about two years and uses two different plants, witch hazel and birch.
Birch leaves with these aphids often turn yellow or red, and the aphids sit on the underside.
It has been found on eight different kinds of birch.
Most asked questions about Spiny witch-hazel gall aphid
?What makes spiny galls on witch hazel?
The spiny witch-hazel gall aphid. Its babies grow inside the spiny bumps.
?Where does the spiny witch-hazel gall aphid live?
All across North America, from Mexico to Canada.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Hamamelistes spinosus
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Aphididae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Aphididae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Hamamelistes spinosus (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 Judy Gallagher. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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