ABSTRACT

The cultivated strawberry, Fragaria x ananassa Duchn., is a hybrid of three American species: F. virginiana Duchn., F. virginiana Duchn. ssp. glauca Staudt, and F. chiloensis Duchn. Few of the insect and mite pests of strawberry are restricted in their host range to strawberry. Of the 16 arthropods designated as major pests of strawberry by G. A. Schaefers, only the strawberry root aphid, Aphis forbesi Weed, and strawberry crown miner, Aristotelia fragaria Busck, seem to have no other recorded hosts. Resistance to the strawberry aphid was found in F. chiloensis 'Del Norte' and the resistance was heritable when 'Del Norte' was crossed with F. x ananassa cultivars. J. E. Crock et al. identified 24 more clones of F. chiloensis as being as resistant to strawberry aphid as 'Del Norte'. Most reported strawberry resistance to arthropod pests is derived from wild F. chiloensis clones.