Fruit IPM Fact Sheet
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Black Cherry Aphid

Scientific Name – Myzus cerasi (Fabricius)

Family – Aphidae

The black cherry aphid frequently causes serious injury to sweet cherries and many occasionally be a serious pest on tart cherries. This insect has been reported occurring wherever cherries are grown.

Life Stages
Egg: The shiny black winter eggs are oval and less than 1 mm long. The eggs are deposited among the buds or attached to the bark of smaller branches.

Nymph: Nymphs look like the adults but are smaller. Like adults, the nymphs have piercing – sucking mouthparts that they insert into the leaves to feed.

Adult: The adult black cherry aphid is soft-bodied and black, and measures about 3 mm long. Adult aphids may be winged or wingless. Wingless forms occur during most of the season.

Host Range
The black cherry aphid has shown a preference for sweet cherries but will infest and feed on tart cherries. Black Tartarian, Napoleon, Schmidt and Windsor suffer great damage by this insect. Dikeman and Yellow Spanish are not seriously injured. Tart cherry varieties such as Early Richmond, Montmorency and English Morello are attacked less frequently and, when attacked, are injured only slightly. The aphid is found in all cherry-growing areas in Canada and the United States.

Injury or Damage
Two types of injury occur on the tree. Curling, twisting and stunting of the leaves are caused by the aphids’ feeding on the leaves. Severe infestations may kill young trees and reduce the quantity and quality of the crop on mature trees. Honeydew secreted by the aphids spots foliage and fruits. Later, a fungus grows in the honeydew, causing it to turn black and leaving fruit and foliage smutted and black.

Factors Affecting Abundance
High temperatures, combined with adequate moisture, are favorable for aphid development. Individual aphids may reach maturity in one week under favorable conditions. In parthenogenetic insects, this can result in a rapid multiplication of pests.

Life History
The shiny black eggs overwinter on buds or bark of smaller branches and start to hatch about the time the buds open.

The stem mothers hatching from the overwintering eggs rapidly establish colonies on the new growth by giving birth to wingless females. The process is called parthenogenetic ovoviviparous reproduction. Within a few weeks, the tips of the new leaves are curled and the undersides of leaves are covered by aphids and the honeydew they secrete. Several generations are produced in a short time, depending primarily on temperature.

Winged adults develop in the middle of the summer and migrate to other hosts, usually plants of the mustard family, though a few aphids can still be found on the cherry tree. A later generation of male and female winged adults migrates back to the cherry, usually in September and October, and produces wingless individuals that lay the over wintering eggs. Males appear only in the fall.

Monitoring
During the prebloom period, look for shiny black eggs on the buds or bark of smaller branches. In postbloom, look for colonies on the undersides of leaves in the growing terminals.

Control
Contact or systemic aphicides are directed against the stem mothers early in the spring.

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Created: June 20, 1999
Last modified: October 19, 2009