The Aphid Keeper

Say hello to Hemiptera, The Ahpid Keeper..!! 

Hemiptera is the guardian for all Aphids and tree bugs alike. 

She takes in the abandoned or orphaned babe Aphids, and guards all Aphids from the pesky Ladybirds! She also acts as negotiator between the Aphids and the Ants, securing very good deals for their coveted Honey-Dew!  

Did you know?

• There are about 4 000 species of aphids in the world!

• Aphids eat by inserting tubes called Stylets into the veins of plants, and sucking out the 'juice'. It takes quite a bit of time to tap into a phloem tube, it can be anywhere from 25 minutes to 24 hours from starting to insert the stylets to actually getting something to eat.....!!!

• Aphids excretelarge amounts of sugary liquid, called honeydew.,due to high sugar levels in plant phloem.This honeydew can often be seen on the lower leaves of infested trees which it falls on giving them a sticky coating. This is then fed on by other insects like the Common wasp (Vespula vulgari

• Honeydew is the reason that ants are associated with aphids. In fact many species of ants are so addicted to this sweet drink that they will protect the aphids from various predators and move them to new plants if the one they are on starts to wilt. Some ants even go as far to build small shelters over species that feed near the base of the plant and or to keeping root-aphids inside their own nests.