Life Cycle of Common Pests of Crops

Topic Content:

Aphids:

Aphids have a complicated life cycle. Wingless females are known as “stem mothers” can reproduce without fertilization (parthenogenesis). The mouthparts of aphids are modified for piercing and sucking.

They obtain their food by sucking plant juices or the blood of other animals. e.g water boatman prey on other pond creatures e.g frogs while “cuckoo-spit” insects draw fluids from plants. These groups of insects have an incomplete metamorphosis, there is no pupal stage but a series of moults in which the nymph gradually becomes a mature adult.

There are over 400 species and varieties of aphids. In October, the females usually lay eggs on the stems of trees or shrubs. The eggs are black with thick shells and can withstand extremes