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Since its first appearance in New Mexico's JUo Grande. Valley four years ago, a. new aphid with a fantastic reproduction rate and a vor- • acious appetite for alfalfa has spread across the Central United States from California to Virginia.
Many agricultural authorities now consider the spotted alfalfa aphid to be the nations most serious insect threat to agricultural production. Its rapid migration has caused widespread alarm. In 1954, ■ the insect was reported in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Nevada. By 1956, it had moved into 15 states, penetrating north into Minnesota and South Dakota, east into Mary' land and Virginia, and south to Florida. Infesting only seven southern counties in Indiana in 1956, It is expected to take over the entire state in 1957. It migrates freely from field to field; travels great distances on the wind; and even “hitch-hikes” from state to state by car, train or plane.
In the northern climates the female aphid produces from two to five living young per day without mating. Cold winters are not a bar to survival It is not .eliminated by temperatures as lovf as fivtf degrees.
The damage caused by the spot- _ ted alfalfa aphid takes several forms. Seedling plants are killed rapidly. Heavy infestations may completely destroy a young stand. Aphids feeding in a harvested field can prevent regrowth by completely covering the developing shoots.
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