Hyalopterus pruni (Geoffroy)
Taxonomic placing: Insecta, Hemimetabola, Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha, Aphidoidea, Aphididae.
Common name: Mealy plum aphid.
Geographical distribution: Almost cosmopolitan; CIE Map # 429, 1981.
Host plants: Almond, apricot, peach and other Rosaceae, as well as the monocotyledones Arundo (reed), Phragmites and Typha.
Morphology: The apterous female is green, with a darker dorsal band and partially covered by whitish mealy wax. The antennae are shorter than the body, the siphunculi are dark gray, the cauda is green and longer than the siphunculi; body length about 2.5 mm. The head and thorax of alate females are brown to black, the abdomen](entry/Abdomen) is green with pale spots, the siphunculi and cauda as in the aptera. The sexual female (“amphigonic”) is similar to the aptera, but smaller (1.4 mm) and its cauda is as long as the siphunculi.
Life cycle: On reed the aphid reproduces by viviparous parthenogenesis throughout the year, its populations peaking in spring and (to a lesser extent) in autumn. During the latter season alate females, along with males, fly to almond, apricot or peach trees whereon they produce sexual females that mate and lay overwintering eggs. The eggs hatch in the following spring and the resultant females reproduce by viviparous parthenogenesis until early summer. Apterae then occur and migrate back to reed; the Rosaceous hosts do not harbor the pest during summer. The aphid thus undergoes two concurrent cycles, one parthenogenetic on reed, the other a sexual cycle on Rosaceae. The pest may annually raise 40 generations, producing 30 progeny on suitable apricot varieties, far less on other hosts.
Economic importance: Most of the damage of this pest is to almond leaves, which may roll and shed, followed by retarded tree growth and fewer and smaller fruits. Infested trees are contaminated by the abundant honeydew and the subsequent sootymold. This aphid is a serious pest of dried plums in California,
Management
Monitoring: Susceptible cultivars should be monitored with sex-pheromone traps for aphid presence, from early spring and on.
Plant resistance: Some almond varieties, like “Nonpareil” and “Ne-Plus-Ultra” are relatively tolerant to the pest, as are certain Japanese plum varieties. Certain apricot cultivars inhibit pest development, probably due to the presence of secondary plant constituents.
Chemical control: When necessary, the pest may be controlled with systemic organophosphates.
Biological control: Several endoparasitoids of the family Aphidiidae attack the pest, of which Aphidius colemani Viereck is the more common. In Turkey the aphid is parasirized by mites and three coccinellids, of which Exochomus nigromaculatus (Goetz) is the more promising. Other predators include larvae of Syrphidae and Cecidomyiidae. The entomopathogenic fungus Neozygites fresenii (Nowakowski) Batko infects the pest, but its effect on pest populations and damage in not known.
References
Atlihan, R. and Kaydan, M.B. 2002. Development, survival and reproduction of three coccinellids feeding on Hyalopterus pruni (Geoffer) (Homoptera: Aphididae). Turkish Journal of Agriculture 26: 119-124.
Bayram, S. and Çobanoglu, S. 2005. Parasitism of Hyalopterus pruni (Geoffroy, 1762) (Homoptera: Aphididae) by larvae of Allothrombium triticium Zhang, 1995 (Acarina: Trombidiidae) and Erythraeus (Erythraeus) ankaraicus Saboori, Cobanoglu & Bayram, 2004 (Acarina: Erythraeidae) larvae on Phragmites austrialis L. (Poaceae). Turkiye Entomoloji Dergisi 29: 163-171.
Jerraya A. 1997. Sur la dynamique des populations de Hyalopterus pruni Geoffroy (Hom., Aphididae) dans la région de Tunis Journal of Applied Entomology 121: 373-382.
Karl, E. and Kegler, H. 1990. Investigation of plum cultivars for susceptibility to infestation with the plum aphid Hyalopterus pruni (Geoff.). Archiv für Phytopathologie und Pflanzenschutz 26: 579-581.
Mescheloff, E. and Rosen, D. 1990. Biosystematic studies on the Aphidiidae of Israel (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea). 4. The genera Pauesia, Diaeretus, Aphidius and Diaeretiella. Israel Journal of Entomology 24: 51-91.
Özgökçe, M.S. and Atlıhan, R. 2005. Biological features and life table parameters of the mealy plum aphid Hyalopterus pruni on different apricot cultivars. Phytoparasitica 33: 7-14.
Saleh, A.A.A., Hashem, M.S. and Abd-Elsamed, A.A. 2006. Aphidius colemani Viereck and Diaeretiella rapae (M’Intosh) as parasitoids on the common reed aphid, Hyalopterus pruni (Geoffroy) in Egypt. Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control 16: 93-97.
Symmes, E.J. (and 6 co-authors). 2012. The sex pheromones of mealy plum (Hyalopterus pruni) and leaf-curl plum (Brachycaudus helichrysi) aphids: identification and field trapping of male and gynoparous aphids in prune orchards. Journal of Chemical Ecology 38: 576-83.