© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
Hellenic Plant Protection Journal
10:
67-69, 2017
DOI 10.1515/hppj-2017-0007
1
University of Montenegro, Biotechnical Faculty, Mi-
haila Lalića 15, Podgorica, Montenegro.
2
Benaki Phytopathological Institute, 8 St. Delta Str.,
GR-145 61 Kifissia, Attica, Greece.
3
Agricultural University of Athens, Department of
Crop Science, 75 Iera Odos Str., GR-118 55, Athens, At-
tica, Greece.
* Corresponding author:
SHORT COMMUNICATION
First record of
Aphis craccivora
Koch (Hemiptera: Aphididae) on
aronia crop in Montenegro
N. Latinović
1
, F. Karamaouna
2
and N.G. Kavallieratos
3
*
Summary
The aphid
Aphis craccivora
was recorded on the crop of aronia,
Aronia melanocarpa
,
in Montenegro, in June 2015 and 2016. This is the first record of
A. craccivora
in Montenegro on
aronia.
Additional keywords:
aphid,
Aphis craccivora
,
Aronia melanocarpa
, southeastern Europe
titudes between 1063 m and 1077 m. They
were spotted on two plants among a total of
1600 bushes. One year later, in June 2016, the
presence of aphids was recorded on numer-
ous bushes of aronia among a total of 3000
plants at the locality Stevanovac of the same
Municipality at altitudes between 875 m and
905 m. Samples of aphids were collected in
2016 and were identified as
Aphis craccivora
Koch (Hemiptera: Aphididae). To our know-
legde, this is the first record of
A. craccivora
infesting aronia in Montenegro. Aphids have
been previously reported as pests of aro-
nia (infestation of shoot tips) but the conse-
quent slow down effect on the plant growth
is not considered serious because the plants
are vigorous (McKay, 2001). Recently,
Aphis
spiraecola
Patch (Hemiptera: Aphididae)
and
Aulacorthum circumflexum
(Buckton)
(Hemiptera: Aphididae) were identified as
pests of
A. melanocarpa
from southeastern
Europe (Bulgaria) (Yovkova
et al.,
2013).
Aphis craccivora
is a relatively small spe-
cies. The apterous viviparous female individ-
uals have a shiny black or dark brown body
with a prominent cauda and brown to yel-
low legs. The immatures are slightly dust-
ed with wax while adults appear without
wax. The antennae have six segments. The
distal part of femur, siphunculi and cauda
are black. The length of apterae individuals
ranges between 1.4 and 2.2 mm. The alate
viviparous
A. craccivora
females have abdo-
In recent years aronia,
Aronia melanocarpa
(Michx.) Elliott (Rosales: Rosaceae),
has be-
come a quite popular fruit crop in Monte-
negro. It is a woody perennial shrub, resis-
tant to cold and can be successfully grown
in conditions of severe continental climate
(Nikolić and Milivojević, 2010), which domi-
nates in the northern part of Montenegro. It
is currently considered as a profitable crop
due to a relatively high price of the fruit
(black chokeberries) and its other uses, in-
cluding processed products (i.e., syrup,
juice, soft spreads, tea, food colors) (McKay,
2001) and as an ornamental plant (Yovkova
et al.,
2013). For all these reasons and the fact
that it is attacked by a small number of pests
and diseases, aronia has earned a profound
place in the organic production in Montene-
gro, where among the total number of 203
registered organic producers, 20 of them
grow aronia berries at a surface area of ap-
proximately 10 ha.
In June 2015, at the locality of Bojna Nji-
va, Municipality of Mojkovac, aphids were
observed to infest an aronia plantation at al-
