Test Your Knowledge
The insect shown in this picture is small, pear-shaped and soft-bodied with two “tail-pipes” or cornicles sticking out of its posterior end. Could it be...?
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The insect is an aphid. The two cornicles and the rounded appearance are typical of aphids. They also have piercing-and-sucking mouthparts.
Potato leafhopper nymphs are much more wedge-shaped and slender than aphids. The feeding damage created by both leafhoppers and aphids is similar and both species are most easily found on the underside of leaves. Aphids are generally much slower moving than leafhoppers, while leafhopper nymphs have the ability to move sideways when prodded.
