Russia: Scientists discovered apricot aphids for the first time in the DPR and Rostov region

Scientists from the Donetsk Botanical Garden (FGBNU DBS) for the first time discovered a new pest - the apricot aphid in the European part of Russia in the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Rostov region; previously, such an East Asian species was found in Italy, and then in Hungary, Germany and Serbia. Insects reduce the yield of apricots, and can also act as a carrier of the causative agent of plum pox, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation told TASS. “The most likely route of entry of the pest into the region is independent dispersal, accelerated by unintentional importation with plant material or cargo from the territory of Central Europe,” said Alexander Gubin, senior researcher at the Laboratory of Bioinvasion Problems and Plant Protection at the Federal State Budgetary Institution DBS. It is clarified that the apricot aphid Myzus mumecola (Matsumura, 1917) was found - this is an East Asian species that was first discovered in ...