Comparative electropenetrography of striped mealybug and cotton aphid on cotton

Cotton is one of the most important cash crops in the United States. Economically relevant crop loss can occur due to damage caused by insect pests such as bollworms, stink bugs, thrips, and aphids. Crop loss can also occur due to insect-vectored disease, demonstrated by the recent if inconsistent appearance of cotton leafroll dwarf virus in the United States. Insects capable of spreading plant viral diseases include many species of aphids and mealybugs. Cotton aphids (Aphis gossypii Glover) are capable of transmitting viruses including the cotton leafroll dwarf virus. The striped mealybug (Ferrisia virgata Cockerell) is a polyphagous insect found across the globe, and an economically relevant pest of cotton in Africa and South America. We studied the feeding behavior of striped mealybugs and cotton aphids on cotton using electropenetrography (EPG), to compare the two species’ feeding patterns in otherwise identical settings. We aim to identify characteristics of feeding behavior that can be useful in predicting species’ potential vectoring contribution under situations of pathogen emergence or vector invasion in locally novel hosts.