Abstract:

Sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene of one Greek and 25 Turkish Myzus cerasi (Fabricus) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) populations collected from Prunus avium and Prunus cerasus were analyzed. The partial coding region of COI studied is 605 bp for all the populations, from which 565 nucleotides were conserved, 40 were variable, 37 were singleton, and 3 were parsimony-informative. Four haplotypes were identified based on nucleotide substitutions and the mean of intraspecific divergence was calculated to be 0.3%. Phylogenetic trees were constructed using maximum likelihood, neighbor joining, and minimum evolution. Myzus persicae (Sulzer) and Myzus borealis Ossiannilson were included as outgroups. The population of M. cerasi from Isparta diverged from the rest of the groups and formed a clade (Haplotype B) with Myzus borealis. The rest of the haplotype diversity included Haplotype A and Haplotype C with individuals characterized as Myzus cerasi pruniavium and Haplotype D with Myzus cerasi cerasi. M. cerasi diverged into two subspecies and it must be reevaluated whether this pest is monophagous or oligophagous in terms of plant type dependence. Further studies will be required for a complete barcoding and host-specific status of black cherry aphid.

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