Fossil Aphid in Baltic amber for sale, Introduction Aphids, Greenfly, Blackfly, Plant-lice etc. are pests, little blighters that suck the life out of your garden plants,everybody knows this. However though aphids are often pests the truth is that they are fascinating animals that have evolved some amazing strategies to allow them to be a numerically very successful life form. I hope that by the time you have finished reading this you will look at aphids more openly as you wipe them out Aphids are related to Adelgids (Conifer Aphids)and Phylloxerids all of which probably evolved about 280 million years ago (MYA) in the Carboniferous, they probably bred on non-flowering plants such as Cordaitales and Cycadophyta (flowering plants i.e. Angiosperms, did not evolve until about 160 MYA). The oldest known fossil aphid is Triassoaphis cubitus from the Triassic about 220 MYA. Aphids did not always look like they do now, the cauda and the siphunculi did not evolve until the Cretaceous about 55MYA. There are about 4 000 species of aphids in the world of which about 250 are serious pests. Scientists believe that the number of species remained relatively small until the angiosperms (flowering plants) became more common, then as the aphids adapted to these new and rapidly speciating plants so their species numbers increased also. Twenty-five percent of all plant species are infested with aphids, and though it is believed that the speciation of aphids has followed that of plants not all groups of plants are equally parasitised. The Compositae, the 3rd most specious plant family, supports the most aphid species (605 species), but the Orchidacea, the 2nd most specious plant family, only support 9 species of aphids while the Rosaceae which is only the 22nd most specious plant family supports the 3rd highest number of aphid species (293 species). The plant family which supports the 2nd highest number of aphids is Coniferae (363 species) but these are non-flowering plants. Aphids have a world-wide distribution but there are far more species in temperate zones, we have more than 500 species in the UK while there are about 1350 species in North America. Most aphids are monophagous, though some feed on more than one species of plant, species like Myzus persicae which feed on a number of different plant species are very rare. Description, Aphids are part of the Superfamily Aphidoidae and are described as small (1-10 mm) soft bodied insects with or, more commonly without, wings. They possess a proboscis which originates between and behind the forelegs, their antennae has two thick basal segments and a flagellum composed of up to 4 segments, the last of which is divided into a proximal part and a thinner distal part called a 'process terminalis'. They possess two compound eyes and two ocular tubercles made up of three lenses each which are situated behind and above the compound eyes. They have two tarsal segments, the wings when present have only one prominent longitudinal vein. The fifth abdominal segment bears a pair of upward and backwardly pointing tubes on the dorsal surface called siphunculi (cornicles) and a cauda is usually present below and

Name: Fossil Aphid Aphidoidea
fm: Pemphigidae, species:Germaraphis cf. dryoides

Locality: Poland, Baltic amber
Age: Eocene (50 million years ago)
Dimensions: Aphid 1,5mm, amber 2x1,5cm
Price: $12
nr kat: b950

b301

Name: Fossil Aphid Aphidoidea

Locality: Poland, Baltic amber
Age: Eocene (50 million years ago)
Dimensions: Aphid 3,5mm, amber 3x1,7cm
Price: $35 US
nr kat: b4892

b302

Name: Aphids, Aphidoidea

Locality: Poland, Baltic amber
Age: Eocene (50 million years ago)
Dimensions: Insect: 1mm, amber: 1,2x0,8cm
Price: $40
nr kat: b5092

b303

Name: Fossil Aphid Aphidoidea

Locality: Poland, Baltic amber
Age: Eocene (50 million years ago)
Dimensions: insect: 1,5mm, amber: 1x0,8cm
Price: $30 US
nr kat: b5228

b304

Name: Fossil Aphis

Locality: Poland, Batic amber
Age: Eocene
Dimensions: Dimensions: insect 3mm, amber 12x10mm,
Price: $40 US
No: b5808

b305

Name: Fossil Aphid
Germaraphis sp.

Locality: Poland, Batic amber
Age: Eocene
Dimensions: Dimensions: insect 2mm, amber 15x5mm,
Price: $30 US
No: b5818

b306

Name: Fossil Aphis

species: Berendtaphis cimicoides (Germar & Berendt, 1856 )

Locality: Poland, Batic amber
Age: Eocene
Dimensions: Dimensions: insect 1,5mm, amber 13x8mm,
Price: $100 US
No: b5862

b307

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