English

A phylloxeran, Daktulosphaira vitifoliae (grape phylloxera)

Noun

phylloxeran ‎(plural phylloxerans)

1. Any of the plant-feeding insects of the family Phylloxeridae, closely related to aphids.
   • 1980, Jerry A. Powell, Charles L. Hogue, California Insects, page 123,

     Phylloxerans are similar to aphids but are without cornicles and hold their wings horizontally at rest.

   • 2004, Edward B. Wilson, The Sex Chromosomes, Peter S. Harper (editor), Landmarks in Medical Genetics: Classic Papers with Commentaries, page 57,

     The final confirmation of the foregoing conclusions is given by the important discoveries of Morgan (1909), von Baehr (1909) and Stevens (1909b) in the phylloxerans and aphids, where all the fertilized eggs produce females.

   • 2008, Shade Tree Arthropods and Their Management, article in John L. Capinera (editor), Encyclopedia of Entomology, Volume 4, page 3363,

     Phylloxerans (Phylloxeridae) are uncommon pests of shade trees, limited to certain leaf and petiole gall-forming species that attack Carya spp. (pecan). However, other phylloxerans can be seriously damaging to other woody plants, notably the grape phylloxera, Daktulosphaira vitifoliae (Fitch), that produces, alternately, leaf galls and root galls on grape vines.

Related terms

• phylloxera