Ameri 



VOL. Y.-BROOKLYN, OCT. & NOV., 1889. -NOS. 10 & 11, 



A GENERIC SYNOPSIS OF THE APHIDID^. 



By Wm. H. Ashmead. 



Family VIII. APHIDID^. 



All soft bodied insects. Head small, longer than wide, and seldom 

 as wide as the thorax ; the frons most frequently triangular, flattened, 

 slightly concave or slightly convex, never much produced. Eyes prom- 

 inent, hemispherical, facetted, with a slight tubercle posteriorly, and 

 situated on the sides of the head, entirely absent onh- in a few subter- 

 ranean species. Ocelli 3, small, sometimes indistinct or wanting, 2 

 situated close to the eye and one on the vertex. Beak 3-jointed, arising 

 at the hinder inferior part of the head, enclosing 3 to 4 fine setae, when 

 at rest usually pressed close to the sternum in a more or less distinct 

 groove between the coxoe. Antenna filiform, 3- to 7 jointed, of variable 

 length, sometimes longer than the bod^•. Thorax usuallv well developeil 

 and lobed. Scutellum not laige transverse or niangular. Wings when 

 ))resent four, niemhranou-;, not strongly veined — a costal, subcostal, dis- 

 coidal and stigmal veins. Tegulae present but verv small. Coxae short, 

 conical, gradually increasing in size posteiioih-, not contiguous. Femora 

 seldom very thick. Tibiai usually long, slender, cylindrical, l^arsi 

 short, 2-joinied, except in Oestlunds new genus Miislofoda, in which 

 they are atrophied, and one-jointed in two or three subterranean genera ; 

 the latter, however, are probablv nothing but n}m[)lis. Pul villi usuallv 

 l)resent. Abdomen oval, elongate oval or ovoid, the sixth segment 

 dorsaliy often with distinct honey-tubes or nectaries ; in some forms 

 these are subobsolete or tuberculate, or visible only as oval openings, m 

 others they are entirely wanting ; they secrete a sweet substance called 

 " honey-dew " of which ants are particularly fond. 



At the tip of the abdomen is usually found a more ox less distinct 

 appendage, seldom entirely wanting, called the cauda or style. 



Entomologica Americana. Vol. V. 1 October & November, 188!). 



