Neoacyrthosiphon Tao 1963

Victor, Eastop, F. & Blackman, Roger L., 2005, Some new synonyms in Aphididae (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha), Zootaxa 1089, pp. 1-36 : 16-17

Neoacyrthosiphon Tao 1963 = Ericolophium Tao 1963

Tao erected Ericolophium for Macrosiphum itoe Takahashi , but then erected Neoacyrthosiphon for a second species that Takahashi described from Rhododendron in Taiwan, Macrosiphum holsti , mistakenly claiming that it differed by lack of a median frontal tubercle.

Hille Ris Lambers and Basu (1966) pointed out the error and placed Neoacyrthosiphon as a subgenus of Ericolophium , but it was given full generic status again by Ghosh and Raychaudhuri (1969). They distinguished Neoacyrthosiphon from Ericolophium by (1) tarsi with spinulose imbrication and (2) apterae with papillate sculpturing of tergum. However, both characters vary greatly in the degree to which they are manifested in different species within the group, and specimens of Ericolophium itoe in BMNH from Taiwan have minute spinules on the second tarsal segments. We therefore see no justification for retaining the name Neoacyrthosiphon .