Let us talk about the sex life of the aphids in your garden. It's a short talk, because aphids mostly never have one. Subscribe now for unlimited access .
Login or signup to continue reading All articles from our website & app The digital version of Today's Paper Breaking news alerts direct to your inbox Interactive Crosswords, Sudoku and Trivia All articles from the other regional websites in your area Continue Just now there are birds and bees at it all through the hectares that I call "my garden", the possums call "dinner" and the wombats call "home". Ladybirds are an aphid's worst nightmare. Picture Shutterstock The male shrike thrush is pecking at its refection in the window at 6am, in a challenge to the male he sees reflected there.
The queen bees, termites and European wasps are preparing for their mating flights. The wind is carrying pollen from pine tree to pine tree, and the bees transferring pollen from one fruit tree to another. Sex is literally in the air.
But not for aphids. Female aphids are just sitting there, sucking sap from your favourite plants and breeding more aphids, with rarely a romantic adventure in their lives. Most aphids in Australia reproduce by pathogenesis i.
e the females don't need males to reproduce. Female aphids are born pregnant; they give birth to two or three aphids every day for most of the month of their lives. A single aphid could theoretically be responsible for 600 billion descendants in one year, and all of them feeding and still b.