Practical and Simple Systems for Food Intake Studies on Phloem-Sucking Insects

Studies of insect feeding behavior are useful in different areas of entomology such as plant resistance, biology, and insecticide efficacy. For chewing insects, this kind of technique is well established, but for sap-sucking insects, especially tiny ones such as whiteflies, aphids, and psyllids, these tests can be laborious. Manipulation is difficult and can damage the plant, affecting the results. We describe here three types of cages for tests with small insects, one for seedlings in pots, a second for larger plants or plants in the field, and a third for caging insects on part of a leaf. These cages have been useful for different types of studies in addition to feeding behavior and can facilitate research with small phytophagous sucking insects.