Feeding preferences and morphological variation of Hyalopterus pruni (Geoffroy) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) from different host plants
Author of the article:WANG Xiao-Juan1, 2** JING Jun1, 2 CHEN Jia-Dan1 LI Kai1, 2 FANG Yan1, 3***
Author's Workplace:1. School of Life Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China; 2. Shanghai Key Laboratory for Urban Ecology Processes and Eco-Restoration, Shanghai 200241, China; 3. College of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China
Key Words:Hyalopterus pruni, host plants, feeding preference, morphological differentiation
Abstract:
[Objectives] The peach mealy aphid, Hyalopterus pruni Geoffroy (Hemiptera: Aphididae), is a common agricultural pest that is widely dispersed in China and Europe. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the feeding preferences and morphological variation of H. pruni collected from peach, plum, and reeds in Shanghai, China. [Methods] The feeding preferences of H. pruni were determined using the leaf disc test, and morphological variation of specimens collected on 3 different host plants was quantified by principal component analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis and canonical discriminate analysis of 30 morphological characteristics such as body length (BODYL), body width (BODYW), length of antenna segments and length of leg segments. [Results] Aphids had an obvious preference for reeds irrespective of the host plant they were collected on. H. pruni collected on reeds and peach trees preferred peach to plum foliage, but those collected on plum trees displayed no significant preference between peach and plum leaves. Morphological analysis did not detect any significant differences between H. pruni feeding on peach and plum foliage (P>0.05). However, those feeding on reeds differed significantly from those feeding on peaches and plums in the length of antennal Ⅱ (ANTLⅡ), length of processus terminalis antennal Ⅳ(PTL), basal length of ultimate rostral (URSL) and length of middle tibia (MTL) (P<0.05). In addition, a significant difference was found in FTⅠL between H. pruni collected on reeds and those on plum trees (P<0.05). The results of principal component analysis showed that BODYL, HEADW, and antenna and leg length, were the top four principal components, collectively comprising up to 66.206% of the total variance. Among these morphological characteristics, the highest variance was in antenna and leg length. Moreover, cluster and canonical discriminate analysis show that H. pruni collected on reeds can be objectively separated from those collected on peach and plum trees. Our inability to distinguish H. pruni feeding on peaches and plums may be because these plant species belong to the same family. [Conclusion] There were significant differences in ANTLⅡ, PTL, URSL and MTL between H. pruni feeding on graminaceous and rosaceous plant species. Morphological differentiation of H. pruni may be the result of different nutritional composition and surface characteristics of host plants, however, the specific mechanisms responsible need further exploration.