Information on and identification of Diuraphis noxia (Homoptera: Aphididae) and other aphid species colonizing leaves of wheat and barley in the United States

TLDR: This information should prove very useful to county, state, and federal personnel involved with surveys of grain aphids, particularly those surveys for D. noxia as it spreads into other grain-growing areas of the United States.

Abstract: In the United States, Diuraphis noxia (Mordvilko), variously called the “Russian wheat aphid,” the “Russian grain aphid,” and the “barley aphid,” was first collected and identified in March 1986, near Muleshoe, Bailey County, Tex. By the end of 1986, D. noxia had been collected in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming on wheat, barley, oats, rye, triticale, and several grasses. Damage to wheat and barley during 1986 was extensive in some fields in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado; crop losses were heavy in these areas. In addition to D. noxia , 12 other aphid species are known to colonize leaves of wheat, barley, and other small grains and some related grasses in the United States. A brief summary of taxonomic characteristics, usual hosts, and known distribution within the United States is given here for each species along with a couplet key and pictorial plates. This information should prove very useful to county, state, and federal personnel involved with surveys of grain aphids, particularly those surveys for D. noxia as it spreads into other grain-growing areas of the United States.