Insect Gallery

Yellow Pecan Aphid
Image courtesy of Louis Tedders, USDA-ARS, Bugwood.org

Honeydew on pecan leaves from yellow pecan aphid feeding
Image courtesy of Charlie Graham

Insect Details

Name: Aphids - Yellow Pecan Aphids

Latin Name: Yellow Pecan Aphid, Monelliopsis pecanis

Description: Yellow pecan aphids are small, soft bodied insects with piercing sucking mouthparts. Yellow aphids are characteristically yellow in appearance. Black aphids are a "dull" black in color. Shiny, polished, black, parasitized yellow aphids are often confused with the black pecan aphid.

Insects Life Cycle: Yellow pecan aphids overwinter as eggs. Wingless females hatch in March and migrate to the newly emerging pecan leaves. These females give birth to living young without mating. This first field progeny are all female and give birth to subsequent generations of aphids without mating. In early fall, winged females and males mate, and the females lay eggs that will overwinter. There are 20-30 generations of aphids per year.

Insects Symptons: Yellow pecan aphids can significantly reduce pecan yields. Aphids suck photosynthates from leaves, excrete "honeydew", and reduce the flow of nutrients to nuts. Damaging infestations of yellow aphids can cause whole leaves to turn yellow and possibly drop. Heavy infestations cause rapid leaf drop. Aphids can cause premature leaf drop, reduced nut quality, and subsequent yield reductions the following season.