Tetraneura nigriabdominalis (Sasaki, 1899)
oriental grassroot aphid, rice root aphid
on Ulmus, primary host plant
Ulmus minor, Spain, prov. Salamanca, Ledesma © Nicolás Pérez
Ulmus minor, France, dép. Haute-Garonne, Avignonet-Lauragais © Catherine Reymonet
opened gall with apterae
Ulmus minor, France, dép. Haute-Garonne, Avignonet-Lauragais © Catherine Reymonet; massive occurrence of young galls (mid May)
detail
Ulmus minor, France, dép. Haute-Garonne, Avignonet-Lauragais © Catherine Reymonet: next to a gall of T ulmi
a few days later
Ulmus spec., Belgium, prov. Antwerp, Meerhout © Carina Van Steenwinkel
Ulmus spec., Belgium, prov. Antwerp, Mol © Carina Van Steenwinkel: mass occurrence
Ulmus spec., Loenen (Ge), 22.v.2019: again mixed occurrence with Tetraneura ulmi© Arnold Grosscurt
another image
Ulmus minor, France, dép. Dordogne, Saint-Cyprien, 28.iv-4.v.2019 © Arnold Grosscurt: mass occurrence
detail
host plants
Ulmaceae, monophagous
Ulmus glabra, minor & subsp. canescens, procera, pumila.
gall
the gall is more or less intensively red, covered with glandular hairs. The apex is ± pointed.
on Poaceae, secondary host plants
Zea mays, België, prov. Antwerpen, Balen, 6.viii.2022 © Carina Van Steenwinkel: this stunted plant had a colony at its roots
colony
detail
aptera, larva
predation by a syrphid larva
gall
2-3 mm large, greenish- to brownish-white aphids on the roots.
host plants
Poaceae, oligophagous
“Agropyron“; Cynodon; Digitaria; Echinochloa; Eragrostis; Oryza; Saccharum; Setaria verticillata; Sorghum; Triticum; Zea mays.
distribution within Europe
(PESI, 2018); also Belgium (pictures above).
synonyms
Tetraneura, Tetraneurella, akinire Sasaki, 1904.
notes
A serious pest on rice. As is testified by recent observations of the species in Poland (Walczak ao), Belgium and the Netherlands, the species is expanding northwards. Walczak ao tentatively associate this with the rise in maize cultivation; this also might explain the occurrence of local mass occurrences.
references
Barbagallo, Binazzi, Pennacchio & Pollini (2011a), Barbagallo & Massimino Cocuzza (2014a, 2017a), Bellmann (2012a), Blackman & Eastop (2014), Borowiak-Sobkowiak, Durak, Kmieć & Walczak (2022a), Braggion (2013a), Deckert & Deckert (2016a), Grosscurt (2020b), Hellrigl (2004a), Łabanowski (0000a), Mifsud, Pérez Hidalgo & Barbagallo (2009a), Modic, Razinger & Urek (2012), Nieto Nafría, Mier Durante, Binazzi & Pérez Hidalgo (2002a), Osiadacz & Hałaj (2012a), Pellizzari (2010b), Pérez Hidalgo, Martínez Peláez & Nieto Nafría (2001a), Pérez Hidalgo & Umaran del Campo (2013a), Ripka, Reider & Szalay-Marzsó (1998a), Suay Cano & González Funes (1998c), Walczak, Borowiak-Sobkowiak & Wilkaniec (2017a), Wojciechowski, Depa, Halgoš ao (2016a).