Protaphis pseudocardui (Theobald, 1915)

Mehrparvar, Mohsen & Mirtadzadini, Mansour, 2024, Aphids associated with Carthamus in Iran with the description of the hitherto unknown male of Uroleucon carthami (Hille Ris Lambers, 1948) (Hemi.: Aphididae), Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics 10 (3), pp. 467-483 : 470

Protaphis pseudocardui (Theobald, 1915)

Apterae display a distinctive dark green or brown hue covered with a layer of grey mealy wax, featuring short black siphunculi. Additionally, there is commonly a pair of dark spots on the dorsal abdomen, just anterior to the siphunculi, with a body length ranging from 1.5 to 2.0 mm. These aphids form often densely populated colonies on stems, upper sides of leaves, flowerheads, or root collars of various Asteraceae plants and are ant-attended. Their presence has been documented in Africa, the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, and Georgia. It is worth noting that some of these records might be attributed to other closely related species, such as those within the terricola group ( Blackman & Eastop, 2024). In Iran, this species is only reported from Razavi Khorasan ( Mortazavi et al., 2015) and Tehran ( Rezwani et al., 1994) provinces.

Material. Not examined.