• Known as plant lice ( also as greenflies).

• Pear shaped body.

• Secrete honey dew ( feed by ants).
• Pair of siphonculi.
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Class: Insecta
• Order: Hemiptera
• Suborder: Sternorrhyncha (e.g., aphids, whiteflies, scales, psyllids, etc.)

• Superfamily: Aphidoidea
• Family : Aphididae
• Plants exhibiting a variety of symptoms
– Mottled leaves,
– Yellowing,
– stunted growth,
– curled leaves,
– Browning,
– Wilting,
– low yields and death.
– The removal of sap creates a lack of vigour in
the plant, and aphid saliva is toxic to plants.
• Frequently transmit disease-causing
organisms like plant viruses to their hosts.
• Green peach aphid (Myzus persicae)
– more than 110 plant viruses
• Cotton aphids (Aphis gossypii)
– infect sugarcane, papaya and groundnuts
with viruses.
• late blight (Phytophthora infestans) -Great
Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s.
• cherry aphid or black cherry aphid, Myzus
cerasi
– Leaf curl of cherry trees
• honeydew can
– spread of fungi
– reduce the effectiveness of fungicides
• In summer months
– All aphids seen will be females ( wingless).
– Reproduce by Parthenogenisis.
– no sexual process occurs - do not lay eggs
but deliver their young.
– nymphs develop wings and fly off to infest
new plants.
• In Autumn
– winged forms are males which fly off – mate
with females.
– lay eggs on the branches of the tree.
• In Spring
– the eggs hatch to wingless females
– which feed on the young tree leaves,
producing daughters parthenogenetically.
Lifecycle of the rosy apple aphid
• They insert this proboscis through the leaf
tissue until it reaches the food-conducting
cells (phloem cells).
• Inject a little saliva which starts to digest
the cell contents and then suck up the fluid
into their gut.
• The plant sap contains more sugars than
amino acids (protein precursors)
• Aphids excrete a solution of the excess
sugar through their anus('honey dew‘) and
• when it falls on the leaf, it encourages the
growth of mould.
• However, ants like this 'honey dew' and
mount the feeding aphids to collect Honey
dew.
• Some species of ants "farm" aphids
• eating the honeydew that the aphids
release from the distal of their alimentary
canals. This is a "mutualistic relationship".
• Some ant species gather and store the
aphid eggs in their nests over the winter
• Aphid species have unusual and complex
reproductive adaptations
• Include both sexual and asexual
reproduction
• Creation of eggs or live nymphs and
switches between woody and herbaceous
types of host plant
• Groundnut Rosette – Aphis craccivora
• Sugarcane mosaic – Rhopalosiphum maidis
• Cowpea mosaic - Aphis craccivora
• Banana mosaic – Pentalonia nigronervosa
• Banana bunchy top – Pentalonia nigronervosa
• Cucumber mosaic – Myzus persicae
• Potato leafroll - Myzus persicae
• Papaya mosaic – Aphis craccivora
• Stunted plants with
chlorotic twisted,
and distorted
leaflets characterize
chlorotic rosette.
• Yield from early-
infected plants is
severely reduced.
• peanut clumps.

• Young leaves show

mild mottling. Older
leaves are dark
green, reduced in
size, and show
• Contrasting shades
of green
• often islands of
normal green on a
background of pale
green or yellowish
chlorotic areas on
the leaf blade
• Comovirus
• Contrasting shades
of green
• often islands of
normal green on a
background of pale
green or yellowish
chlorotic areas on
the leaf blade
stunted and the throat of
the plant is choked with a
“rosette” of
short, narrow, erect
leaves, giving the
typical “bunchy top”
appearance.
• Family:Bromoviridae
• Genes:Cucumovirus
• twisting in young
leaves.
• stunts growth of the
entire plant and
causes poor fruit or
leaf production.
• genus Polerovirus and family
Luteoviridae
• aphid, Myzus persicae

• slight curling of
new leaves,
which are less
flexible than in
healthy plants.
• Serious on young plants.
• Symptoms appear on the
top young leaves.
• Leaves are reduced in
size
• Show blister like patches
of dark-green tissue,
• Alternating with
yellowish-green lamina
• closterovirus
• citrus brown aphid,
Toxoptera citricida
• Quick Decline
• Seedling Yellows
• Stem Pitting Disease
• Aphids are soft-bodied, and have a wide
variety of insect predators.
• Insects that attack aphids include
– lady bird beetle (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)
– hoverfly larvae (Diptera: Syrphidae),
– parasitic wasps, aphid midge larvae, aphid
lions, crab spiders &
– lacewings (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae).
• Prune out infested leaves and stems.
• Knock aphid populations off plants by
shaking or spraying with a strong stream
of water.
• Protect natural enemies
– Lady beetles, both adults and larvae
– Lacewings
– Syrphid fly larvae
– Soldier beetles
• Non chemical pest control methods should be
used first to manage aphid populations.
• However, if you feel insecticides are necessary,
choose less toxic products.
• Insecticidal oils and soaps are the safest
products. When properly used, these materials
solve most pest problems.
• Oils and soaps don’t kill aphids hidden within
curled leaves. Prune these out. Systemic
insecticides can kill hidden aphids, but they are
much more toxic