This paper compiles and summarizes a great deal of extremely pertinent Russian language literature (most of which has remained little known and inaccessible to western scientists) covering virtually all of the basic early reports of the Russian wheat aphid, Diuruphis noxia (Kurdjumov, 1913), and traces the evolution of this insect into one of the world's most damaging pests of small grains. A longstanding error in the authorship of D. noxia is corrected. An original taxonomic key to the apterous vivipara of species of Diuraphis is proposed. Various old-world parasitoid, predator, and native host plant associations with Diuraphis species are described from the literature, and a number of potentially useful aphidophagous insects are identified and collection sites recommended.

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