Eggs are placed in the major host trees’ bark and other fissures.
Larvae grow inside galls that form on the midribs of the leaves and are less than 2mm long, comparable to wingless adults.
Adults with winged aphid heads and thoraxes are black, while the rest of their bodies are green. The aphid is linked to fibrous roots rather than the major storage root.
The wingless forms on roots are yellowish and create a soft, white waxy substance that gives the source a mealy appearance.
Hosts plants:
Populus L. poplars are the ideal primary hosts, with annual or biennial plants such as sugar beets and certain weed species serving as secondary hosts. Secondary hosts contain sugar beetroots, pigweed, foxtail, dock, and a few other plants, on which the aphids will feed and breed throughout the bulk of the growing season.
Territory:
Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L. var. Vulgaris) is grown in North America’s major sugar beet production regions.
Damages caused by Sugar beet root aphid:
Severely afflicted plants wilt quickly and become chlorotic; the store root becomes flaccid and rubbery with sustained moisture stress. Infestations in the field frequently show as circular or elliptical areas with wilted or, in severe situations, collapsed and dying leaves on plants.
Life History and Habits:
Sugar beet root aphids have a complex life cycle that may include the seasonal use of different host species and separate sexual and asexual reproduction phases. The life cycle of sugarbeet root aphids is intricate, with an overwintering generation on narrow leaf cottonwood trees. All aphid reproduction is done asexually by females for the remainder of the year. The overwintering eggs hatch in the spring, and the aphids seek growing cottonwood leaves to feed on. A gall shapes at the base of the leaf when an aphid needs to feed on the expanding leaves early on. The female aphid develops a colony of winged aphids within this gall.
