Associate Professor University of Texas Edinburg, Texas
The sugarcane aphid (Melanaphis saccchari; SCA) is an invasive pest of sorghum first reported in the USA in 2013. While most studies on SCA has focused on insecticides, resistant cultivars and management strategies, population level variation for both SCA and their host traits have been less understood. Using three field populations of SCA feeding on sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) from three different locations around the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, we examined possible variations in life history traits, feeding behavior through electrical penetration graph, and host plant defenses post infestation of SCA on sorghum-sudangrass (Sorghum drummondii). Results of these experiments in combination with plant resistance traits and their effects on SCA, in comparison with another major aphid Corn leaf aphid (Rhopalosiphum maidis) will be discussed.