An official website of the United States government.
Bemisia tabaci Gennadius biotype B (CABI)
Silverleaf whitefly (SLWF), sweet potato whitefly biotype B
Bemisia argentifolii Bellows & Perring (CABI)
Possibly India or the Middle East (Brown et al. 1995; Perring 2001)
Bemisia tabaci was first discovered in the U.S. in 1897; a new, more aggressive strain (biotype B) was discovered in 1986, which has been proposed to be classified as a separate species B. argentifolii (Hoddle et al. 2002; Perring 2001)
Possibly arrived with imported ornamentals (Brown et al. 1995)
Damages crops by feeding on them and transmitting viruses (McAuslane 2015)
Silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia argentifolii, one-sixteenth-inch long
Scott Bauer; USDA, Agricultural Research Service
Find more images
Distribution / Maps / Survey Status
Videos
Selected Resources
The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source.
Partnership
International Government
State and Local Government
Academic
Professional
Brown, J.K., D.R. Frohlich, and R.C. Rosell. 1995. The sweetpotato or silverleaf whiteflies: biotypes of Bemisia tabaci or a species complex? Annual Review of Entomology 40:511-534.
CABI. Invasive Species Compendium. Bemisia tabaci (B biotype). CAB International. [Accessed Feb 26, 2015].
Hoddle, M.S., R.G. Van Driesche, and J.S. Sanderson. 2002. Biological Control: A Grower's Guide to Using Biological Control for Silverleaf Whitefly on Poinsettias in the Northeast United States. University of Massachusetts Extension.
McAuslane, M.J., and H.A. Smith. 2015. Sweetpotato Whitefly B Biotype, Bemisia tabaci. University of Florida, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension. Electronic Data Information Source Publication #ENY129 (IN286).
Perring, T.M. 2001. The Bemisia tabaci species complex. Crop Protection 20(9):725-737.