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Sticker of Woolly apple aphid
Bug card No. 1479 of 1,500

Woolly apple aphid

Eriosoma lanigerum
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasGardens and meadows6 legs

The woolly apple aphid is a tiny bug that wears a fluffy white coat, like a little bit of cotton wool. Under the fluff its body is reddish brown or purple. You can find whole fluffy groups of them on the twigs of apple trees.

Lives in
First North America, now everywhere in the world where apples grow
Length
2 mm (0.08 in)
Top speed
about 0.01 km/h (0.01 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. It can make apple trees sick, so gardeners do not like it.
What does it eat?
It pokes its sharp mouth into apple trees and sucks the sweet sap. Then it drips out sticky sugary juice called honeydew.
For real!Photo of Woolly apple aphid
Picture by Sanjay Acharya. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Woolly apple aphid about 2 mm long (0.08 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)
3 of them in a row are as long as one grain of riceneeds 6 minutes to cross a dinner table

How big is Woolly apple aphid compared to YOU?

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

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

If you squash one, it leaves a blood red mark.

2

Its fluffy white wax may keep it clean from its own sticky honeydew and help hide it from enemies.

3

One mother aphid can have up to five babies a day, without needing a dad.

4

Its babies are salmon pink and only grow their fluffy coat once they settle down to eat.

5

A tiny wasp is used by farmers to keep these aphids under control.

you asked

Most asked questions about Woolly apple aphid

?What is the white fluff on apple trees?

It is often the woolly apple aphid. The fluff is wax that the tiny bugs make to cover themselves.

?Is the woolly apple aphid harmful?

It cannot hurt people, but it sucks sap and can damage the twigs and roots of apple trees.

?How big is the woolly apple aphid?

It is tiny, only up to 2 millimetres long.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Eriosoma lanigerum
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Aphididae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Aphididae
Lives on
North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, Australia and Oceania
Also known as
Woolly aphid, American blight

Where the facts come from

  1. Eriosoma lanigerum (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 Sanjay Acharya. 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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