Reticulaphis similis Hille Ris Lambers & Takahashi

Yeh, Hsin-Ting, Ko, Chiun-Cheng & Hsu, Tung-Ching, 2008, Review of the East-Asian genus Reticulaphis (Aphididae: Hormaphidinae), with two new species, Zootaxa 1782, pp. 34-48 : 46

Reticulaphis similis Hille Ris Lambers & Takahashi , incertae sedis

Reticulaphis distylii subsp. similis Hille Ris Lambers & Takahashi, 1959: 12 .

This species was described on one sample from Gerengredjo, Java, on the underside of mature leaf of F. benjamina (28-i-1950, F. W. Rappard). Although the original publication described the body as more elongate than the main species distylii (Hille Ris Lambers & Takahashi, 1959), we think this is not likely to distinguish similis from distylii definitively. We examined three specimens of similis from BMNH, and observed that the marginal setae on the prosoma have acute apices, but other characters could not be studied due to the poor specimens. Therefore, we suggest that similis should currently be treated as species ‘ incertae sedis ’.