Witch-hazel cone gall aphid
The witch-hazel cone gall aphid is a tiny insect that lives on witch-hazel bushes. In spring a mother aphid makes the leaf grow a little pointed cone around her, called a gall. The gall is green at first and then turns bright red. Inside it she has food and a safe home.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The mother makes the gall grow by poking the leaf again and again and putting a special liquid into it.
One mother can fill her gall with about 50 baby aphids, all girls, without needing a father.
The second generation grows wings and flies off to start new families.
At the end of summer the aphids lay eggs on the bark, and these hatch the next spring.
Most asked questions about Witch-hazel cone gall aphid
?What are the red cones on witch-hazel leaves?
They are galls made by this tiny aphid. Each one is a home and a food store for a mother aphid and her babies.
?How many babies does a witch-hazel gall aphid have?
One stem mother can fill her gall with about 50 daughters.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Hormaphis hamamelidis
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Aphididae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Aphididae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Witch-hazel cone gall aphid (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 John Cooper. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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