The pea aphid, a type of insect, contains light-capturing pigments in its exoskeleton. Scientists hypothesize that pea aphids gained the ability to
synthesize these pigments from genes transferred from fungi during evolution. While pea aphids do not have chioroplasts or fix carbon, researchers
have found that pea aphids with more pigments have higher levets of ATP than those
with fewer pigments. Pea aphids also have been shown to
increase production of ATP when exposed to sunlight
Based on this information, is the pea aphid a true autotroph?