Rosy apple aphid

Insect

Rosy apple aphid

Dysaphis plantaginea (Passerini)

Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Aphididae

Distribution: Widespread in most fruit-growing states and provinces in eastern North America.

Photos

Stunted shoots produce characteristic malformations on leaves and fruit.

Stunted shoots produce characteristic malformations on leaves and fruit. NY State Ag Experiment Station
D

Populations arise from the overwintered stem mothers (A), which are wingless and purplish in color, and form into colonies of rosy-purple nymphs with dark cornicles (B). They do not have the waxy, wool-like covering that the woolly apple aphid produces.

  • Crops Affected: apples, pears

    Damage

    Attacks apple mainly, also pear. This aphid causes the leaves to curl (C) and take on a crimson appearance; it stunts the growth of shoots and causes characteristic malformations on leaves and fruit (D). The honeydew it excretes favors the growth of sooty mold.

    Management

    Conserve natural parasitoids; check for colonies in fruit clusters at pink bud stage, and on interior and upper branches after petal fall; if necessary, apply selective insecticides (aphicides) at pink. Elimination of this species' summer weed hosts, especially narrow-leaved plantain and dock, can contribute to control efforts.

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