Metopolophium dirhodum
species of insect
Metopolophium dirhodum, the rose-grain aphid or rose-grass aphid, is a species of sap-sucking insect in the family Aphididae found worldwide. Its primary host is rose, and its secondary host is a grass, including cereals such as wheat, barley, oats and rye. It is an important vector of the barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) which causes serious reductions in yields of affected crops.
Distribution
The rose-grass aphid has an almost cosmopolitan distribution, being found in most parts of the world where its secondary hosts are grown. It was first detected in New Zealand in 1982.
Description
Wingless adults are between 2 and 3 mm (0.08 and 0.12 in) long, slender, glossy yellowish-green with a darker dorsal stripe. The antennae, legs and siphunculi (erect, backward-pointing tubes on the abdomen) are relatively long and pale in colour. Winged individuals are between 1.6 and 3.3 mm (0.06 and 0.13 in) long and a uniform green colour.
Life cycle
The species overwinters on rose, its primary host, as an egg. On hatching in the spring, rose-grain aphids feed on rose at first, but do not persist on it beyond about June in the northern hemisphere, dispersing to grasses and cereal crops in midsummer.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Metopolophium dirhodum” is species of insect. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Metopolophium, dirhodum and species, not as a finished interpretation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Metopolophium dirhodum” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.