last updated 26.Apr.2006 |
Sternorrhyncha (Aphids, Scale, Whiteflies)
The Sternorrhyncha are a large group of plant-feeding insects with piercing/sucking
mouthparts. The morphology of these insects has become reduced to
varying degrees in the course of adapting to an extremely specialized lifestyle-
some of the scale insects are scarcely even recognizable as living creatures.
The life cycle of some species can be remarkably complicated, with alternating
winged and non-winged forms, changes of host plant, and cycles of sexual
and asexual reproduction. A few Sternorrhyncha are important crop
pests, and many are tended by ants.
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