Abstract. In this study aphid-plant association and its effect on host preference of parasitic Allothrom- bium pulvinum larvae was examined with multiple-choice tests. Host species selection, host size selec- tion and superparasitism with mite larvae were studied with two-choice tests. Three aphid species were used: Macrosiphum rosae, Aphis gossypii and Hyalopterus amygdali. In multiple-choice tests, larvae of A. pulvinum showed no significant preference for any aphid-plant association when given M. rosae on rose, A. gossypii on cucumber and H. amygdali on apricot simultaneously. Two-choice tests showed that larval mites preferred H. amygdali to A. gossypii, but had no preference when offered a choice between A. gossypii and M. rosae or between H. amygdali and M. rosae. In host size selection and superpara- sitism tests, significantly more mites selected the larger host (M. rosae). Furthermore, parasitised H. amygdali were preferred to unparasitised ones.

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