اولین گزارش و توصیف مجدد گونه (Brachycaudus cerasicola (Mordvilko, 1929) (Hemiptera: Aphididae از ایران

The plant family Lamiaceae is a very large plant family occurring all over the world in a wide variety of habitats. Lamiaceae is an important family with most of its species recognized as useful plants with medicinal, aromatic and ornamental properties. A total of 25 species belonging to 9 genera of aphids includes Aphis, Aulacorthum, Brachycaudus, Cryptomyzus, Dysaphis, Eucarazzia, Myzus, Ovatus and Kaltenbachiella have been recorded on Lamiaceae in Iran. During the study of aphid fauna of North-Khorasan province in 2016 and 2017, an aphid species, Brachycaudus cerasicola (Hem.: Aphididae), was reported here for the first time from Iran. For identification of aphid specimens, the keys by Blackman & Eastop (2006), Blackman & Eastop (2016) were used. Then, all the specimens were confirmed by the third author and were deposited in the Aphid Collection of Aphidology Research Group, Institute of Science and High Technology and Environmental Sciences, Graduate University of Advanced Technology, Kerman, Iran. Comparison the biometric data of the Iranian populations of B. cerasicola with the original descriptions by Mordvilko (1929) and Shaposhnikov (1964) indicated that those are different in body size and colour in comparison to those originally described. Iranian population is smaller and darker. The observed variation between the specimens of B. cerasicola collected from Iran and the original descriptions could be made from differences in environmental conditions, geographical distribution and different host plants which cause local adaptation. Original population of B. cerasicola was collected only on Phlomis sp. (Mordvilko 1929), while the Iranian specimens were founded on Perovskia abrotanoides, Phlomis cancellata, Salvia aethiopis, Stachys turcomanica and Hymenocrater elegans, in which, first to third plants was reported as the new hosts for this aphid.