corn-root aphid

[ kawrn-root, -root ]

noun

1. an aphid, Anuraphis maidiradicis, that lives as a symbiont in colonies of cornfield ants and feeds on the roots of corn: an agricultural pest.

Example Sentences

Although each corn-root aphid is only about one-twentieth of an inch long and one-twenty-fifth of an inch wide and has a sucking-beak simply microscopic in size, yet there are so many millions of these little insects all with their microscopic little beaks stuck into the corn-roots and all the time drinking, drinking the sap which is the life-blood of the corn-plants that they do a great deal of injury to the corn-fields of Illinois and cause a great loss in money to the farmers.

From Project Gutenberg