Laboratory Investigations of Flight Activity and Production of Alatae in the Corn Leaf Aphid, Rhopalosiphum maidis (Homoptera: Aphididae)1

Abstract

In flight-chamber studies, alate corn leaf aphids, Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch), which had been allowed to fly for 2 hours, settled on host plants more readily than aphids which had not exercised, and they had a shorter interval between isolation on the host and production of offspring. Their mortality rate in isolation cages was lower than that of nonexercised alatae. Newly postteneral alates with amputated antennae were slower to fly from host plants when confronted with a light source than those with intact antennae, but this was true only if the amputated portion included the third segment, on which antennal sensoria are most numerous. Production of alates among apterous adult R. maidis was greatest under conditions of crowding and increased host age. Photoperiod and temperature had no apparent influence on production of alatae.