What are the natural enemies of aphids? A detailed introduction to common species

Aphids are one of the most destructive pests on Earth, including all members under the superfamily Aphidoidea, varying in size with body lengths ranging from one to ten millimeters, parasitizing plants in almost all families of angiosperms and the Coniferopsida of gymnosperms, while some species use bryophytes, ferns and Equisetaceae plants as hosts. Let us take a look below at what natural enemies aphids have!

Ladybugs

Ladybugs are the general name for round, convex beetles of the family Coccinellidae in the order Coleoptera, often with red, black or yellow spots, and predatory ladybugs mostly feed on aphids. Many ladybugs live only in specific habitats, sometimes limited to a few plant species in a particular habitat. Conversely, many species such as Harmonia axyridis and Propylea japonica are widespread, and their traces can be found in many habitats; when prey becomes scarce in a habitat, they leave to seek food elsewhere.

Hoverflies

Hoverflies are effective natural enemies of aphids, scale insects, whiteflies, leafhoppers, thrips, small lepidopteran larvae and others. They are insects of the family Syrphidae in the order Diptera, famous for their larvae preying on aphids. Adults range from small to large in size, with broad or slender bodies, either a single dark color or often with bright markings in yellow, orange, grayish-white and other colors, while some species have metallic colors such as blue, green or copper, resembling bees in appearance.

Parasitic wasps

Parasitic wasps refer to various insects of the families Pteromalidae, Ichneumonidae, Chalcididae and others in the Apocrita suborder of Hymenoptera that live parasitically. There are many species, each parasitizing different developmental stages of their hosts. Common ones include chalcid wasps, ichneumon wasps, braconid wasps, Trichogramma wasps and tetrastichine wasps.

Aphid midges

Aphid midges are insects of the family Cecidomyiidae in the order Diptera, distributed in Hubei and other regions. Their host insect is the cotton aphid. They overwinter as cocooned larvae in the surface soil around the host plants of aphids, pupate between March and April of the following year, and after emergence and mating, lay eggs and reproduce on early-spring hosts such as weeds and Hibiscus syriacus that carry aphids.

Crab spiders

Crab spiders refer to spiders of the family Thomisidae in the order Araneae. They not only look like crabs but can also walk sideways or backwards like crabs. Possessing a spirit of taking on bigger foes with smaller size, they prey on insects much larger than themselves, such as butterflies, damselflies, mosquitoes and bees. They often prey on pests in flower and grass clusters or bean fields, or in cotton fields and wheat fields near bean fields.

Lacewings

Lacewings are a large family in the order Neuroptera of the class Insecta, with a great variety of species distributed in most regions of China. They are important natural enemy insects of various aphids such as pine aphids, willow aphids, peach aphids and pear aphids, as well as pine scale insects, effectively suppressing the population fluctuations of aphids and scale insects in forests, nurseries, orchards and farmlands.