Aphids swarming to Tacoma

The Associated Press

TACOMA — Clouds of aphids have swirled into the area in recent weeks, a love fest for the prolific garden pests that insect experts can only partly explain.

"These are mating swarms," said Ernie Bay of Puyallup, a retired urban entomologist for the Washington State University Research and Extension Center. "It’s their one opportunity to have a big party and mix up the genes."

Hordes of the tiny flying insects have been seen from downtown Tacoma to rural areas around the city.

"They look like miniature powder puffs flying around," Bay said. "They’re almost ethereal, very light and dancing in the air."

In their familiar wingless form, aphids are small green or brownish blobs with long legs. They cling to the underside of leaves and suck sap from the plants. In that part of their life cycle, all are females that reproduce by parthenogenesis, or virgin birth.

In most species, parthenogenesis produces winged males and females that exist just long enough — "a day or two," Bay said — for a brief frenzy of fertility.

About one-sixteenth of an inch long, the winged aphids lay eggs that hatch into the wingless females in the spring.

According to information from Texas A&M University, the sexual phase of aphid life is sporadic, occurring only in optimal environmental conditions. Conditions in Tacoma seem to be optimum now, but it’s hard to say why, Bay said.

"I’ve seen them before, but never in the numbers that were floating around this year," he said. "Some years, for whatever reason, they’re more abundant."

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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