Occurrence of hop aphid phagostimulants in the honeydew of aphids

Abstract Several aphid honeydews were incorporated into sucrose solutions and presented to hop aphids, Phorodon humuli (Schrank), as artificial diets in free‐choice bioassays. Small additions of honeydew collected from two species of aphid feeding on hop, Humulus lupulus L., arrested the searching behavior of the hop aphid and appeared to stimulate prolonged periods of ingestion. This effect was more dependent on the host plant honeydew source than the species of aphid that produced the honeydew. Aphid honeydews collected from plants other than hop (non‐hosts to P. humuli) contained hop aphid phagostimulants that were less effective. Our results indicate that analysis of aphid honeydew could help describe chemical cues involved in the recognition of appropriate host plants by aphid species.