The adult is yellow to dark green with a black head, and black cornicles. Often the melon aphid is light green mottled with darker green, but under crowded conditions and high temperatures it can be yellow or nearly white. Adult aphids range from 0.9 to 1.8 millimeters long. Females bear two or more young each day, rather than laying eggs.
Adults live between two and three weeks.
This aphid feeds on the shoots or undersides of leaves of many plants. Over 70 hosts are listed for Hawaii. Some of the common plants attacked in the Pacific are cucurbits, citrus, eggplant, peppers, taro, and okra. Some other hosts are banana, cotton, coffee, cocoa, Piper, tomato, beans, sweet potato, and potato. This aphid can develop in large numbers on taro causing wilting and downward curling of the leaves.