Silverleaf whitefly
Species of true bug / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci, also informally referred to as the sweet potato whitefly) is one of several species of whitefly that are currently important agricultural pests.[1] A review in 2011 concluded that the silverleaf whitefly is actually a species complex containing at least 40 morphologically indistinguishable species.[2]
Silverleaf whitefly | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hemiptera |
Suborder: | Sternorrhyncha |
Family: | Aleyrodidae |
Genus: | Bemisia |
Species: | B. tabaci |
Binomial name | |
Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius, 1889) | |
Synonyms[1] | |
Bemisia argentifolii Bellows & Perring |
The silverleaf whitefly thrives worldwide in tropical, subtropical, and less predominately in temperate habitats. Cold temperatures kill both the adults and the nymphs of the species.[3] The silverleaf whitefly can be confused with other insects such as the common fruitfly, but with close inspection, the whitefly is slightly smaller and has a distinct wing color that helps to differentiate it from other insects.
While the silverleaf whitefly had been known in the United States since 1896, in the mid-1980s an aggressive strain appeared in poinsettia crops in Florida. For convenience that strain was referred to as strain B (biotype B), to distinguish it from the milder infestation of the earlier known strain A. Less than a year after its identification, strain B was found to have moved to tomatoes, and other fruit and vegetable crops. Within five years, the silverleaf whitefly had caused over $100 million in damage to agriculture in Texas and in California.[1]