The fauna of aphids appearing on cucurbits, including oilseed pumpkin have been poorly investigated in Serbia. Yellow water traps were used to determine the diversity of aphid species visiting cucurbits in Serbia and to monitor their flight activity. During the years 2009 to 2011, a total of 1,447 specimens were collected and a total of 57 different aphid taxa were identified. In 2009, the highest total number of aphids were caught (755), followed by 203 and 489 aphids in 2010 and 2011, respectively. The most abundant species were Aphis fabae (15%), Myizus persicae (13.4%) and Acyrthosiphon pisum (11.7%), followed by Anoecia corni (6.4%) and Aphis gossypii (5.6%). All of them, except A. corni, are reported as efficient vectors of cucurbit viruses. These five species represent 52.1% of all aphid species collected within this study. Out of 57 taxa found in oilseed pumpkin crops, 17 are known as vectors of ZYMV, 18 of WMV and 15 of CMV. Generally, 25 out of a total of 57 taxa are known as vectors of at least one of three viruses present in Serbia. From total of 1,447 specimens collected during three years of investigation, 917 (63.4%) are vectors of at least one of three viruses. Individual oilseed pumpkin plants were frequently colonized by A. gossypii during all three years of investigation. Results of this study showed that Serbian oilseed pumpkin growing localities are grouped among medium to reach in aphidofauna, according to total Shannon-Weaver index values which varied from 1.8 to 2.8. The highest value of Shannon-Weaver (2.8) was recorded in the Bački Petrovac I locality in 2009, while the lowest Shannon-Weaver (1.8) was recorded in Kisač locality in 2010. The maximum values of Shanon-Weaver diversity index in almost all crops were recorded in the second week of investigation or in early stages of oilseed pumpkin growth when plants had 5-6 true leaves or were in flowering stage, when potential virus infection could lead to significant yield losses.
Knowledge of the structure and function of sensory system of aphids, as well as understanding of their behavior, enabled the development of different methods of aphid collection, flight monitoring and control. The first methods used for collecting aphids were the colored water traps, most commonly of yellow color. Methods based on olfactory perception in order to reduce the abundance of aphids in the field have been developed later. These methods are mainly based on sowing different plant species, such as border crops, trap crops and intercropping. Chemicals, such as pheromones and essential oils, have also found practical application.
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