26 September 2020

Yesterday at Frick Park I found woolly aphids that wouldn’t move. This was a disappointment because I expected them to boogie woogie (like this!). They had all the right characteristics. They were:

• White and fluffy,
• Clinging to narrow branches, in this case shrub-like tree trunks,
• There was a black substance on the trunk below their colony, sooty mold that grows on their accumulated honeydew.
• Bees and yellowjackets were feeding on the honeydew seep.

Here are two more photos showing them individually and collectively.

I tried to get them to dance but they refused. I believe they were on alders so that would make them woolly alder aphids.

If you’d like to see them for yourself, look below eye level on slender trunks of shrubs next to Nine Mile Run about 20 steps to the left of the park bench that views the creek. Approximately here: 40.427685, -79.901373.

Maybe they’ll boogie woogie for you.

(photos by Kate St. John)