Probing behavior of apterous and alate morphs of two potato-colonizing aphids

Abstract

Secondary host plant colonization by aphids involves alate and apterous morphs to spread in the population at a large scale by flying or, at a finer one, by walking. Macrosiphum euphorbiae Thomas (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and Myzus persicae Sulzer (Hemiptera: Aphididae) are two polyphagous aphids that cause serious losses on many crops, particularly on potato, Solanum tuberosum L. (Solanales: Solanaceae). When settlement of virginoparous alate aphids occurs, apterous individuals are produced and spread within the potato field. As these two potato colonizers originate from different areas and show different body length, this study compared probing behaviors of virginoparous alate and apterous M. persicae and M. euphorbiae on one of their secondary host plants, Solanum tuberosum. Non–choice bioassays and electrical penetration graph (EPG) recordings were performed. Most M. euphorbiae of the two morphs rapidly accepted potato plants and exhibited long duration of probing, phloem sap salivation, and ingestion phases. In contrast, at the end of the experiment, most alates of M. persicae left the potato leaflet after brief gustative probes. Moreover, EPG experiments showed that the main difference between both morphs of the two species concerned the xylem ingestion parameter. Differences between species were also reported, such as an increased total duration of probing in both morphs and enhanced phloem ingestion duration in apterous M. euphorbiae. All the differences highlighted in this study are discussed according to the variations observed in aphid body size and to their historical association with Solanum species.

Figure 1.

Percentage of mouthparts of apterous and alate Macrosiphum euphorbiae and Myzus persicae in contact with a potato leaflet among those remaining on it High quality figures are available online.