A small family of green aphids stands on the end of a stalk of tack oat grass, {Avena sativa}, that has a tiny drop of clear water at the tip (because it is guttating due to high-humidity). There is one larger aphid (most likely a wingless parthenogenetically reproducing female, possibly a fundatrix) and six smaller aphids (probably her offspring / babies). I'm not certain what species of aphid these are, but they may be {Diuraphis noxia}, the Russian Wheat Aphid. Aphids are phloem feeding...
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A small family of green aphids stands on the end of a stalk of tack oat grass, {Avena sativa}, that has a tiny drop of clear water at the tip (because it is guttating due to high-humidity). There is one larger aphid (most likely a wingless parthenogenetically reproducing female, possibly a fundatrix) and six smaller aphids (probably her offspring / babies). I'm not certain what species of aphid these are, but they may be {Diuraphis noxia}, the Russian Wheat Aphid. Aphids are phloem feeding parasites, so this isn't a good sign for the grass, but I think they're absolutely adorable with their spindly little legs, long antennae, and red eyes. So cute! Having just a couple of blades of grass blurred out of focus in the background gives context without distracting from the aphids. The scale bar (lower-right) is 1mm long; a version of this image without the scale bar is available upon request.
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