Effect of Trap Color on Species Composition of Alate Aphids (Homoptera: Aphididae) Caught over Watermelon Plants

Abstract

The species composition and abundance of alate aphids caught in water traps containing green or yellow tiles were compared. Traps were operated in a watermelon field during the spring and autumn growing seasons of 1992. Aphis spiraecola Patch, a vector of watermelon mosaic virus 2 (WMV-2), accounted for 79% of the aphids caught in the spring and 91% of those caught in the autumn in yellow traps. However, this species accounted for only 6% and 11% of aphids caught in green traps in the spring and autumn, respectively. Uroleucon pseudambrosiae (Olive), also a vector of WMV-2, was the most abundant aphid in green traps in the spring but was absent in the autumn. Aphis gossypii Glover (16% of aphids in green traps) and Aphis craccivora Koch (31%) were more common in the autumn than in the spring and may be important vectors of cucurbit potyviruses at that time.