Aphids

The beaches must be the breeding grounds for aphids! These pesky little bugs pop up throughout the season and for the most part seem harmless except when I eat about 500 of them on a run. Unfortunately they sneak up on you too, you may be running along and then out of the blue you go through a cloud of them right at eye level. This then results in several getting eaten, stuck to the back of your throat, or subsequently stuck to your face. Poor little bugs, they don't stand a chance. Some may say they are extra protein...which is one way of looking at it.

So what are aphids I ask...and this is what I found:

Aphids, also known as plant lice (and in Britain as greenflies),[1] are small plant-eating insects, and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea.[2] Aphids are among the most destructive insect pests on cultivated plants in temperate regions.[3] The damage they do to plants has made them enemies of farmers and gardeners the world over, but from a purely zoological standpoint they are a very successful group of organisms.[4]

About 4,400 species of 10 families are known. Historically, many fewer families were recognized, as most species were included in the family Aphididae. Around 250 species are serious pests for agriculture and forestry as well as an annoyance for gardeners. They vary in length from one to ten millimetres.

Natural enemies include predatory lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), hoverfly larvae (Diptera: Syrphidae), parasitic wasps, aphid midge larvae, crab spiders[5] lacewings (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), and entomopathogenic fungi like Lecanicillium lecanii and the Entomophthorales.

Aphids are distributed worldwide, but are most common in temperate zones. Also, in contrast to many taxa, species diversity is much lower in the tropics than in the temperate zones. They can migrate great distances, mainly through passive dispersal by riding on winds. For example, the currant lettuce aphid (Nasonovia ribisnigri Mosley) is believed to have spread from New Zealand to Tasmania in this way.[6] Aphids have also been spread by human transportation of infested plant materials.

Aphids are the only known member of the animal kingdom to be able to synthesize carotenoids, an ability they gained by coopting the synthetic genes from fungi.

It looks as if the aphids are a combination of friend and foe; while being the enemy to farms and gardens they serve a very important purpose in their world. I still prefer not to eat them during my runs especially now I know they are also known as plant lice....eeewwwww!

Watch out, they may be in your neighbourhood too!