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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
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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.