Sunday, August 1, 2010

Aphid

Aphids have had plenty of time to evolve into the highly successful organisms that we know today.
The earliest known fossil of an aphid is about 220 million years old. There are about 4,400 known species of aphids in the world, and of that number, about 250 species are serious pests in the agricultural world. Some aphids can have a very unusual reproductive cycle, depending on the weather, and food conditions, female aphids can be in an asexual reproductive stage where they are developing females in their bodies, which in turn can be developing females in their bodies. Simply put the female aphid could give live birth to a daughter, who in turn is carrying her granddaughter, male aphids may be produced, depending on conditions. In the autumn female aphids can also lay eggs, which are the result of sexual reproduction, these eggs will be only be female, and may have the potential of growing wings, under certain conditions. These eggs are deposited on plants, and will hatch in the spring.

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