Protrama radicis (Kaltenbach, 1843)

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 : 476

Protrama radicis (Kaltenbach, 1843)

Apterae exhibit a colour range from dirty white to pale yellow or pale brownish-green, accompanied by brown siphuncular cones, with a body length spanning from 2.5 to 3.4 mm. The majority of apterae show some degree of alatiform characteristics, while true alatae remain undiscovered. These aphids form colonies attended by ants on the roots of various Asteraceae within the Cynareae subfamily ( Blackman & Eastop, 2024). This species is documented in Europe (excluding the Iberian peninsula), as well as in southwest and central Asia ( Blackman & Eastop, 2024). This aphid species has a wide distribution in Iran, but its occurrence on Carthamus is only reported by Hodjat (1993) (p. 100), without specifying the locality.

Material. Not examined.

Suspicious records

Amphorophora sp. Rezwani (1987) reported Amphorophora sp. on C. tinctorius in Varamin, Tehran province. The genus Amphorophora encompasses approximately 27 species primarily associated with Rubus , ferns, and a limited number of plants within the Rosaceae family. However, none of these species has been documented on any plants belonging to the Asteraceae family ( Blackman & Eastop, 2024). Hence, the likelihood of a species from this genus being present on Carthamus is highly improbable. This report could potentially stem from misidentification or the inadvertent mixing of aphid samples during the collection process.

Macrosiphoniella sp. Sedighi et al. (2020) in their paper indicated the presence of a Macrosiphoniella species on Carthamus lanatus in North Khorasan province. As of now, no reports exist of any species belonging to this genus on Carthamus globally ( Blackman & Eastop, 2024), even though Macrosiphoniella aphids mostly colonize plants within the Asteraceae family. Further comprehensive investigations are essential in this regard.

Pleotrichophorus glandulosus (Kaltenbach, 1846) . Apterae exhibit a yellowish-white colour, occasionally with a pale green median stripe, and sometimes appear greenish; their body length ranges from 1.4 to 2.6 mm. They are typically found on the undersides of lower leaves of Artemisia vulgaris and occasionally on other Artemisia spp. However, Rezwani (2010) in his book reported this aphid species on C. tinctorius from Tehran. According to Blackman & Eastop (2024), records on plants from genera other than Artemisia are deemed likely to involve vagrants or stem from potential misidentifications. This species is distributed across Europe and throughout Asia to Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan, with introductions to eastern North America. It is also present in Argentina and Uruguay ( Blackman & Eastop, 2024). In Iran, this aphid was reported from Guilan, Mazandaran and Tehran provinces ( Mehrparvar, 2024a).