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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Genetics and Breeding Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #411190
Research Project: Genetic Improvement and Cropping Systems of Warm-season Grasses for Forage, Feedstocks, Syrup, and Turf

Location: Crop Genetics and Breeding Research

Title: First record of Melanaphis donacis (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in Georgia

Author
item Harris-Shultz, Karen
item HALBERT, SUSAN - Florida Department Of Agriculture And Consumer Services
item MOORE, MATTHEW - Florida Department Of Agriculture And Consumer Services
item Ni, Xinzhi

Submitted to: Journal of Entomological Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/4/2024
Publication Date: 4/19/2024
Citation: Harris-Shultz, K.R., Halbert, S.E., Moore, M., Ni, X. 2024. First record of Melanaphis donacis (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in Georgia. Journal of Entomological Science. 59(4):1-4. https://doi.org/10.18474/JES23-105.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18474/JES23-105

Interpretive Summary: Aphids are a major pest to agriculture as they damage plants by removing plant sap and serve as a vector for plant viruses. Although aphids are small in size, aphid populations can be extremely large due to their short generation times and high reproductive rates. Introduced aphids can have devastating impacts on U.S. agriculture. In this Note, we report the identification of Melanaphis donacis on giant reed in Tifton, GA. This identification was performed by morphological and molecular analysis. Previously this aphid had only been identified in North America (U.S. in California and Mexico) as well as in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. The hosts, giant reed, clumping bamboos, and common reed may be impacted but minimal damage is expected.

Technical Abstract: Sorghum aphids, Melanaphis sorghi, have been a pest to U.S. sorghum since 2013. A recent study (2023) found another Melanaphis species, Melanaphis donacis (Passerini), was present on Arundo donax L. (giant reed) in Mexico and we sought to determine if this aphid is in our area as A. donax is a common weed. We examined two locations of Arundo donax in Tifton and found using morphological analysis and molecular identification that M. donacis is present in Tifton, GA. This expands the locations where Melanaphis donacis can be found as previously they had only been identified in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America (only in the U.S. state of California and Mexico), and South America.