PREFERENCE OF APHIDS FOR EXCISED LEAVES TO WHOLE PLANTS

Abstract

When adults of Myzus persicae (Sulz.) were put on healthy and virus-infected plants or on excised leaves of Physalis floridana Rydb., they remained longer on the leaves than on the whole plants, and longer on the virus-infected plants or leaves than on comparable healthy ones. The numbers of nymphs found on both plants and leaves, whether virus-infected or not, appeared to be proportional to the numbers of adults and the length of time that these remained on the hosts.