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Sticker of Giant willow aphid
Bug card No. 0618 of 1,500

Giant willow aphid

Tuberolachnus salignus
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasGardens and meadows6 legs

The giant willow aphid is thought to be the biggest aphid in the world. It is pear-shaped and grey-brown, with rows of black dots and a little thorn-like bump on its back. It lives on willow trees and drinks their sweet sap.

Lives in
Everywhere willows grow, on every continent except Antarctica, probably first from Japan or Korea
Length
5.8 mm (0.23 in)
Top speed
about 0.02 km/h (0.01 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. It only drinks tree sap.
What does it eat?
It pokes its tiny needle mouth into willow shoots and drinks the sugary sap. Sometimes it feeds on poplar, apple or pear trees too.
For real!Photo of Giant willow aphid
Picture by Pabs-wsm. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Giant willow aphid about 5.8 mm long (0.23 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailneeds 3 minutes to cross a dinner table

How big is Giant willow aphid compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Only females have ever been found. Each mother makes babies on her own, and they are all exact copies of her.

2

One mother can have 35 to 71 babies.

3

It drinks so much sap that it squirts out sweet sticky drops called honeydew, which bees, wasps and ants love.

4

It reached New Zealand only in 2013 and is now everywhere willows grow there.

5

Some grown-ups have wings and some do not.

you asked

Most asked questions about Giant willow aphid

?What is the biggest aphid?

The giant willow aphid is thought to be the biggest. It can be almost 6 millimetres long.

?Where does the giant willow aphid live?

It drinks the sap of willow shoots. Willows are its home and food, and it is harmless to people.

?Why are there no male giant willow aphids?

Mothers make babies without any fathers, so all of them are females.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Tuberolachnus salignus
Named by
Gmelin, 1790
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Aphididae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Aphididae
Lives on
Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

  1. Tuberolachnus salignus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Pabs-wsm. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

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