Morphological and molecular identification aphids of Rosae

Aphids, as an important group of insects which are belonged to hemiptera, are very successful creatures with the most species diversity in temperate regions and worldwide distribution. In this study 135 aphid samples were collected from roses of various places of Isfahan (Iran) parks. Identifying these insects was done using morphological trait and mitochondrial gene sequencing. According to morphological traits, these samples were belonged to species Macrosiphum rosae, Aphis gossypii, and Metopolophium dirhodum. Considering that aphid species are very similar morphologically, identifying samples which were close to more than one species were done by using genetic characteristic of them. Comparing mitochondrial gene sequences of rose aphids with extant sequences in gene bank shows high diversity of them and then studied samples were classified in four groups: Aphis gossipii, Ericaphis scammelli, Macrosiphum rosae and Wahlgreniella nervata. According to the results, W.nervata is new for Isfahan aphid’s fauna and E.scammelli is new for Iran’s rosae aphids. There were a little E.scammelii extant among samples and it seems that rose is not its main host in this region. This is the first report of this aphid on rose.