Species Diversity of Indian Aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

The aphids are tiny sap sucking plant lice that not only infest agricultural and horticultural crops but also spread several viral diseases. They are very fascinating insects as these are thelytokous parthenogenetic viviparous, having short generation time and telescopic generation with polymorphism. Many species of aphids display complex life cycles with alternation of sexual and asexual generations and host plant alternation. Aphids are almost cosmopolitan in distribution, but are most common in temperate areas. Unlike many taxa, aphid species diversity is much lower in the tropics than in the temperate zones. They can migrate great distances, mainly through passive dispersal by winds. At present all true aphids belong to a single family Aphididae which consists of 24 subfamilies. Globally, 5109 species of aphids are described under 527 genera. In India, 794 species of aphids under 208 genera are reported out of which about 385 are endemic.The subfamily Aphidinae constitutes a monophyletic group within the family with about 3100 extant species worldwide with higher diversity in temperate regions. In India, 431 species under 105 genera of this subfamily are reported out of which 192 species are endemic. In this paper, distribution of extant aphid species in different taxa of Aphididae is described.