Among the most damaging insects for plants , aphids or aphids occupy a prominent place. Once installed in the plant, they feed on its sap to the point of weakening it, altering its tissues, slowing its development and inducing the formation of galls, structures that the plant develops as a defense and that end up being invaded by aphids. In addition, it transmits viruses, as well as dangerous blights, a type of basidiomycete fungi.
On the other hand, aphids secrete through their abdomen a substance known as molasses , which is nothing more than a concentrated, partially digested sap with a high sugar content. By falling on the leaves and the ground, honeydew encourages the growth of various species of fungi that are harmful to plants.
A species famous for the serious economic problems it causes is phylloxera (Phyloxera vastatrix), a North American fido that devastated the European vine between 1863 and 1938. To combat it, our vine had to be hybridized with the American one.
