1. I give live birth
2. Generally, I only produce females, but may produce males under certain circumstances
3. I don’t need a male for reproduction
What insect or spider am I (common name)?
ANSWER: Aphids
Aphids can reproduce by parthenogenesis (without fertilization). The females give birth to live young, called nymphs, the adult female's clones.
Live birth
Aphids are polymorphic – they have different body forms under different circumstances. Adults can be wingless (apterous) or winged (alate). Both winged and wingless females can reproduce without males, resulting in a virtual reproduction assembly line, whose population grows extremely fast. Winged adult females are usually seen when the host plant is no longer viable, or when a colony becomes overcrowded to the point where migration to other host plants must occur. These winged females disperse and set up their own group, repeating the pattern.
Winged female
While females make up the vast majority of births, aphids can produce males as well. So… do male aphids really serve any useful purpose? Of course. At some point in the annual cycle of aphids, they give birth to a generation of winged males and females, who fly about and mate. This provides the genetic diversity and opportunity to accumulate beneficial genetic traits that almost all animal species seem to require.*
Aphids are a reminder that reproductive strategy, not just the ability to attack and defend, can be an extremely valuable weapon for survival.
Their natural enemies range from opportunistic predators such as crickets and earwigs, to all sorts of specialized wasps, flies, ladybugs, and lacewings, whose goal is to gobble up as many of these sugar-filled jellybeans as possible.
One line of defense for the aphid is a secretion from tubes (called cornices) that extend upward from the rear of its body. This waxy substance rapidly hardens, and fends off potential predators. You can see these “tubes” in the pics.
*Note: (The above pics are of Oleander aphids which are quite unique in that no males have been observed in the wild, but HAVE been produced under laboratory conditions. In other species of aphids, the males ARE seen in the wild, however, no known aphid species reproduce SOLEY by sexual means).
Please add whatever further info./pics that anyone wishes to share. I know you all have hordes of aphid photos in your collections.
http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/hemipt/OleanderAphid.htm
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn ... _aphid.htm
