In Brazil, among the viruses causing crop losses in leguminous plants, mainly on soybean {Glycine max), bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), the cowpea severe mosaic virus (CpSMV), vectored by Cerotoma arcuata, is one of the best known. An isolate of CpSMV, named CpSMV-SP, was found on the Southern coastal region of São Paulo State infecting Vigna luteola, and has been subsequently studied at the Laboratory of Phytopathological Virology and Physiopathology of the Biological Institute. The feeding preference trials of C. arcuata, on soybean cultivars, were performed as follows: leaf discs were placed in Petri dishes covered with plastic glass-shaped lids to form an "arena" in which a single beetle was confined, taking into consideration multiple choice (11 cultivars), or not (a sole cultivar). The tested cultivars were 'BR-4', 'COODEPEC-201', 'EMBRAPA-48', 'EMBRAPA-59', 'IAC-177IAC-15-1', 'IAC-20', 'IAC-100', 'IAS-5', 'IGUAÇU' and 'PL-1'. For the susceptibility evaluation of cultivars, CpSMV-SP was C. arcuata and mecanically inoculated. Results showed that the feeding preference of C. arcuata varied and that the vector did not feed on IAC-20 only. When mecanicaly inoculated, all cultivars were susceptible to CpSMV-SP however, IAC-20 and IAC-100 were not infected when inoculated by C. arcuata. The former, probably due to the vector not fed on it, and the latter because the vector presented low or no efficiency. Considering these results and the natural occurrence of CpSMV-SP, the use of the cultivars IAC-20 and IAC-100 could be recommended for São Paulo State.
soybean; cowpea severe mosaic virus; beetle; feeding preference