Mosquito - Culex Pipiens

An aphid is a small sap-sucking insect in the order Hemiptera, just like water boatmen — meaning it’s also a true bug, not a beetle or a fly.

🪴 Scientific Overview:

• Common Name: Aphid

• Order: Hemiptera

• Suborder: Sternorrhyncha

• Superfamily: Aphidoidea

• Example Species:

  • Myzus persicae (green peach aphid)

  • Aphis nerii (oleander aphid)

  • Macrosiphum rosae (rose aphid)

🧬 Key Characteristics:

• Size: 1–10 mm

• Body: Soft, pear-shaped

• Antennae: Long and prominent

• Cornicles: Paired tube-like structures on their back that release defensive fluids

• Mouthparts: Piercing-sucking, used to feed on plant phloem sap

🔁 Weird Biology:

• Many aphids:

  • Reproduce via parthenogenesis (cloning themselves without mating)

  • Give live birth rather than laying eggs (unusual for insects)

  • Have cyclical generations, alternating between sexual and asexual phases

  • Can birth winged morphs when population density or plant health changes

🪰 In the World of blood:

While aphids don't interact directly with mosquitoes in real life, they could make for:

• Passive NPCs on houseplants near breeding zones

• Symbiotic enemies — e.g., feeding on fungus the mosquito larvae use, or attracting ants that later become a threat

• Carrier vectors for diseases, chemicals, or fungal mutations you exploit later