Assessing spatiotemporal variation in cotton infesting aphid species in the southern U.S.

Monday, November 14, 2022

8:12 AM – 8:24 AM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 212

Presenting Author(s)

JM

John W. Mahas

Graduate Research Assistant
Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama

Co-Author(s)

Jessica B. Mahas

Research Associate
Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama
AK

Adam Kesheimer

Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama
CR

Charles Ray

Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama
SE

Southeastern Row Crop Entomology Working Group

Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama
ME

Midsouth Row Crop Entomology Working Group

Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama
AJ

Alana Lynn Jacobson

Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama

Cotton leafroll dwarf virus (CLRDV) is the first virus reported to cause yield loss in cotton in the southeastern U.S. CLRDV is currently distributed from NC to TX, and incidence in cotton is reported to be highly variable across this area. The cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover, annually infests cotton and is the only known vector for CLRDV in the U.S. The vector status of the other seven aphid species reported to occasionally infest cotton in the U.S. (i,e, Protaphis middletonii (Thomas), Aphis craccivora (Koch), Aphis fabae (Scopoli), Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas), Myzus persicae (Sulzer), Rhopalosiphum rufiabdominale (Sasaki), Smynthurodes betae (Westwood)) is unknown. Information about the abundance and distribution of cotton infesting aphid species is needed to better understand factors contributing to regional variation in CLRDV incidence. The objectives of this study were to: 1) Identify and enumerate the eight aphid species reported to infest cotton; 2) assess the intra-annual and inter-annual variation in aphid species composition of cotton infesting aphids. In 2020 and 2021, aphids were monitored weekly during the cotton growing season using pan traps in VA, NC, SC, GA, AL, MS, TN, FL, and TX. Variation in abundance and seasonal trends of these species were observed among locations, with A. gossypii and P. middletonii being the most abundant overall.