Mealy Plum Aphid

Wingless adult aphids are pale green with three dark green longitudinal stripes on their backs. Their bodies are covered with a white, mealy wax. The winged form has a dark thorax and transverse bands on the abdomen. After overwintering in the egg stage near the bases of buds, eggs hatch during bloom and wingless adults develop. Winged adults appear in June and July, as warm weather approaches, and migrate to reed grass or cattails. In fall, winged adults return to apricot trees where wingless females develop and mate with winged male aphids; the overwintering eggs are laid soon after.

Vegetative growth on the trees may be stunted by high populations, but the principal damage caused by mealy plum aphid is the development of the black sooty mold that grows on the aphid's honeydew.