Cinara pilicornis | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hemiptera |
Suborder: | Sternorrhyncha |
Family: | Aphididae |
Genus: | Cinara |
Species: | C. pilicornis
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Binomial name | |
Cinara pilicornis (Hartig, 1841)
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Synonyms | |
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Cinara pilicornis, the spruce shoot aphid[1] or brown spruce shoot aphid, is an aphid species in the genus Cinara found on Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis).[2] It is a quite large aphid species with a plump, dull brown body. It seems to have little effect on the tree. It is a European species but it has also been reported in spruce forests in New Zealand, together with the spruce aphid (Elatobium abietinum).[3]
Cinara pilicornis, which is attended by the honeydew-collecting ants Formica polyctena,[4] is seldom attacked by the parasitoid wasp Pauesia pini.[5] It is also a host for Entomophthora fungi.[2]
Cinara pilicornis produces the trisaccharide melezitose. Citronellol, cis–trans-nepetalactone and cis–trans-nepetalactol are stress-induced compounds released by the host plant. These compounds originated from the aphids and they are assumed to be pheromone components for this aphid species.[6]