Diversity of Aphids (Homoptera: Aphididae) infesting solanaceous plants (Angiospermae: Solanales: Solanaceae) in India

Among the flowering plants, the family Solanaceae is one of the economically important families in the world. Species in this family have been cultivated for vegetables (brinjal, potato, tomato etc.), spices (chili pepper), tobacco, garden flowers etc. At least 51 species of plants of this family were found to be infested by 60 species of aphids (Insecta: Homoptera: Aphididae) in India. Maximum number of aphid species (21 aphid species) are colonised on Solanum tuberosum followed by Nicotiana tabacum (18 aphid species), Solanum melongena (14 aphid species), Solanum lycopersicum (13 aphid species), Datura metel and Solanum nigrum (11 aphid species each), Cestrum fasciculatum (10 aphid species). Similarly, maximum number of plant species (34 plant species) are colonized by Myzus (Nectarosiphon) persicae (Sulzer) followed by Aphis (Aphis) gossypii Glover (30 plant species), Aphis (Aphis) spiraecola Patch (16 plant species), Aphis (Aphis) fabae Scopoli (14 plant species), Brachycaudus (Brachycaudus) helichrysi (Kaltenbach) (12 plant species), Aphis (Aphis) craccivora Koch (11 plant species), Myzus (Myzus) ornatus Laing (10 plant species), and less than 10 plant species in case of other aphid species.