D3380: Hybridization in aphids

In North America, at least 20% of the aphids you encounter will be non-native species. Because of their small size and close associations with crops and food products, aphids are likely shipped all over the world unnoticed, allowing for many opportunities to hybridize with closely-related aphid species. Using genomic and tree-based methods, we find evidence of within-genus hybridization in two genera of aphids that cause expensive crop damage in the U.S.: Aphis and Myzus. We discuss the role of aphid biology in these introgression events and present several hypotheses for hybridization generally across aphids.