Observations on host preferences and epidemiology of aphid species associated with legume crops

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Abstract
During spring–summer 1979–80,bait plants consisting of peas (Pisum sativum L.), dwarf beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), broad beans (Vicia faba L.), and subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.) were set out and replaced at weekly intervals in the middle of a lucerne crop, a clover crop, and a pea crop. 13 species of aphid were collected from the bait plants. Six of them were considered to be legume aphids∶ in decreasing order of frequency, Myzus persicae Sulz., Acyrthosiphon kondoi Shinji,Aulacorthum solani Kltb., Aphis craccivoa Koch, Acyrthosiphon pisum Harris, and Macrosiphum euphorbiae C. Thomas. M. persicae was found most frequently on dwarf bean and pea, and A.kondoi on dwarf bean and clover. A.solani occurred at a similar frequency on all bait plants except clover, where very few were found. A. pisum preferred broad beans to clover and peas and was least frequent on dwarf beans. As expected, A. craccivora was most commonly found on broad beans. M.euphorbiae was found in low numbers on all bait plant species except clover on which none was found.The weekly records also showed that the peak flying time of A. pisum, A.craccivora, and M. euphorbiae was later than the other three species. High numbers of late instar apterae of A. solani on bait plants showed that the apterae of this species were extremely mobile. Weekly records of aphid populations in the clover and lucerne surrounding the bait plants showed that white clover was the main overwintering host for A.solani and that lucerne was the overwintering host for A. kondoi. Early spring populations of A. pisum were at low levels on both lucerne and white clover.

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