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National Invasive Species Information Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
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  4. Silverleaf Whitefly

Silverleaf Whitefly

Scientific Name

Bemisia tabaci Gennadius biotype B (CABI)

Common Name

Silverleaf whitefly (SLWF), sweet potato whitefly biotype B

Synonym

Bemisia argentifolii Bellows & Perring (CABI)

Native To

Possibly India or the Middle East (Brown et al. 1995; Perring 2001)

Date of U.S. Introduction

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)

Means of Introduction

Possibly arrived with imported ornamentals (Brown et al. 1995)

Impact

Damages crops by feeding on them and transmitting viruses (McAuslane 2015)

Silverleaf Whitefly

Silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia argentifolii, one-sixteenth-inch long

Credit

Scott Bauer; USDA, Agricultural Research Service

Source
USDA. ARS. Image Gallery.

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