While inspecting sugarcane (interspecific hybrids
of Saccharum spp.) varietal trials on the
USDA-ARS Ardoyne Research Farm near Houma,
LA on 9 September 1999, we noticed an infestation
of an aphid unfamiliar in Louisiana sugarcane.
Specimens were collected and sent to the
USDA-ARS Systematic Entomology Laboratory,
Beltsville, MD for identification. Gary L. Miller
identified the specimens as the sugarcane aphid,
Melanaphis sacchari (Zehntner). The collection of
this species represents a new distribution record
for the continental United States and holdings of
the National Aphidoidea Collection, which until
now included specimens from Florida and Hawaii.