Sow-thistle aphid
The sow-thistle aphid is a tiny bug that sucks juice from plants. It first came from Europe, but now it lives in many countries around the world. Its favourite plant is the sow thistle, but it also likes lettuce.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Gardeners do not like it much, because it also feeds on lettuce. That is why it is also called the brown lettuce aphid.
It has spread to the Americas, Africa, India, Japan, China, Korea and New Zealand.
It reached Australia only in 1995.
A tiny wasp sometimes lays its egg inside it, and a new wasp later grows out of the aphid.
Most asked questions about Sow-thistle aphid
?What does the sow-thistle aphid eat?
It sucks sap from sow thistles, lettuce, endive and other plants of the daisy family.
?Where does the sow-thistle aphid live?
It first came from Europe and Asia, but now it lives in many countries all over the world.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Uroleucon sonchi
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1767
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Aphididae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Aphididae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Large sow-thistle aphid, Brown lettuce aphid
Where the facts come from
- Uroleucon sonchi (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 Jesse Rorabaugh. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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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