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Morphological characters

1.6-2.8 mm.
Apterous: globular, grey-green to dirty yellow, completely covered with an ash-grey pruinosity.
Alate: head and thorax dark green, abdomen covered with slight pruinosity, greenish yellow with streaks, marginal sclerites, antennae same length as body, cornicles short, swollen, barrel-shaped, pigmented, cauda short and also pigmented; on wing veins are dark.

See identification file

Monoecious holocyclic.

Brassicaceae : Brassica spp (including cabbage, rapeseed, turnip and radish).

Particular characteristics

Agronomic impact

B. brassicae causes disastrous direct damage owing to the aggregative behaviour of this species. Colonies form dense sleeves around the flower stems, their preferred site for establishing themselves (see photo on rapeseed flower).
The colonized plants are frail and do not develop. The leaves become discoloured and curl up. The flower stems are distorted and flowers aborted under the stress of injections.
The flowers are subsequently covered with honeydew and exuvia.
This species transmits 20 or so viruses that depend on the non-persistent mode (turnip mosaic (TuMV)) or the semi-persistent mode (cabbage mosaic virus (CaMV)).