New localities for Neoamphorophora ledi (Hemiptera, Aphididae) in Japan

Abstract

Neoamphorophora ledi (Wahlgren, 1938) (Hemiptera, Aphididae) is distributed in northern Europe and Japan. In Japan, N. ledi was previously recorded only from Tochigi Prefecture, Honshu Island. In the present study, we recorded N. ledi for the first time from Hokkaido, Nagano, and Oita Prefectures located in Hokkaido, Honshu, and Kyusyu Islands, respectively. Rhododendron japonoheptamerum has been treated as a host plant for N. ledi. However, we correctly showed that R. japonoheptamerum var. japonoheptamerum is the true host plant. We also newly recorded R. diversipilosum as a host plant for N. ledi. Finally, we proposed a Japanese common name for N. ledi as “Syakunage-fukure-aburamushi.”