“What’s the deadliest insect?” is a question I’m often asked when speaking to groups of school children in my outreach role at the Royal Entomological Society. Superlatives catch attention and are a ‘go to’ when trying to enthuse people about any kind of creature, not least insects. It’s a tricky one to answer of course as it depends on what is meant by ‘deadliest’, but farmers, and gardeners, the world over might say aphids are firmly in the frame.

Despite their voracious ability to colonise plants, I would argue they are one of the most fascinating of all our common garden insects and there’s still so much to learn. Moreover, they provide an incredibly rich source of food for many other beneficial garden insects and birds and without them, gardens, as we currently know them, would be very different places.

Everything you need to know about aphids

 

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More commonly known as greenfly, or blackfly, aphids are small sap-feeding insects which actually occur in a wide range of colours and live on a wide range of garden plants. With over 4,000 species worldwide they are one of the best-known groups of the Hemiptera or ‘true bug’ classification of insects. Over 600 species are found in the UK, and many are unwelcome in gardens due to their reliance on plant sap to sustain their highly successful colonies.