The photo above shows a dense colony of Elder aphids, Aphis sambuci, many individuals of different ages feeding close together. They are likely to be all a clone, female descendants of a single founding female that emerged from an egg early in spring, and identical genetic copies of her. Elder aphids forms this characteristic ash grey patches on tender elder stems. The aphids suck the elder sap using their piercing mouthparts. Having a close look at elder aphids gives you an opportunity to learn to learn about ecological networks in a few minutes of observation. All the photos in this post were taken in the space of seven minutes this morning on my way to work on the same young elder bush.
Despite the fact that elder, Sambucus nigra, has relatively few insect predators, most likely due to it having cyanogenic chemicals in its leaves, elder aphids are an important link in networks making use of elder sap.
Ants have a mutualistic relationship with the aphids. They benefit from the aphids honeydew by soliciting them to excrete it, taping them with their antennae. The sugary rich liquid is consumed by the ants and their larvae. The ants treat the aphids as their domestic animals. The aphids benefit too, as potential predators or parasites are pursued or attacked by the ants.
But the ants can't totally defend the aphids from their numerous predators. Here a female hoverfly, Epistrophe eligans, lays eggs on a patch of elder aphids.
A hoverfly egg is visible on the centre of this photo, on the edge of the aphid colony.
See the patches cleared of aphids in this patch? They are due to predation by the green hoverfly larvae just visible amongst them. Surrounded by food, the larvae will gorge on the aphids and grow rapidly.
This hoverfly larvae (possibly Epistrophe eligans) is likely to be ready to pupate.
Not only hoverflies, ladybirds are attracted by this aphid bonanza and adults land on the elder, possibly attracted by the smell of aphids. A Harlequin sunnies itself on a leaf...
...while an active 2 spot searches about.
Ladybirds have laid their bright yellow egg clutches on or under the leaves, near the aphid colonies.
...here visible on the background. I couldn't find any ladybird larvae today on this elder.
This fly enjoyed licking the honeydew on a leaf. Some species of butterflies, like the Speckled Wood, also takes advantage of honeydew.
Five species (2 ladybirds, a fly, an ant and a hoverfly) thriving on elder aphids. If I had waited a bit longer, or being a bit luckier, I could have witnessed tiny parasitoid wasps that lay their eggs inside the aphids and eat them from the inside!
