The hemipteran whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) species complex and the plant viruses they transmit pose major constraints to vegetable and fiber production, worldwide. The whitefly tissue- and developmental-specific gene expression has not been exhaustively studied despite its economic importance. In 2002, a functional genomic project was initiated, which generated several thousands express...

The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is fed on by a wide variety of generalist predators, but there is little information on these predator-prey interactions. A laboratory investigation was conducted to quantify the foraging behavior of the adults of five common whitefly predators presented with a surfeit of whitefly eggs, nymphs, and adults. The beetles, Hippodamia convergens G...

BACKGROUND RNA interference has been emerged as an utmost tool for the control of sap sucking insect pests. Systemic response is necessary to control them in field condition. Whitefly is observed to be more prone to siRNA in recent studies, however the siRNA machinery and mechanism is not well established. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS To identify the core siRNA machinery, we curated transcr...

In order to identify the whitefly molting hormone, whole body extracts of mature 4th instar and newly formed pharate adult Bemisia tabaci (Biotype B) and Trialeurodes vaporariorum were prepared and subjected to reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RPHPLC). Ecdysteroid content of fractions was determined by enzymeimmunoassay (EIA). The only detectable ecdysteroids that were pres...

The three keys to whitefly management are sampling, effective chemical use, and avoidance. This study examines factors relevant to the latter two keys in the context of Arizona’s cotton pest spectrum. Insect growth regulators (IGRs) are central to Arizona’s success in whitefly management. The basic usage guidelines developed for the IGRs—initial treatment timing, prescribed intervals between su...

The effects of 16 sugars (arabinose, cellobiose, fructose, galactose, gentiobiose, glucose, inositol, lactose, maltose, mannitol (a sugar alcohol), mannose, melibiose, ribose, sorbitol, trehalose, and xylose) on sweet potato whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) survival were determined using in vitro bioassays. Of these sugars, arabinose, mannose, ribose, and xylose were...

A 2-year commercial-scale study was conducted to qualitatively evaluate the effect of different insecticide treatment regimes on the predator complex attacking Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) in cotton. In 1996 three insecticide regimes were compared: a rotation of conventional broadspectrum insecticides or one of two different regimes based on the initial use of the insect growth regulators (IGRs),...

The relationships between plant viruses, their herbivore vectors and host plants can be beneficial, neutral, or antagonistic, depending on the species involved. This variation in relationships may affect the process of biological invasion and the displacement of indigenous species by invaders when the invasive and indigenous organisms occur with niche overlap but differ in the interactions. The...

Sweet potato is grown extensively from tropical to temperate regions and is an important food crop worldwide. In this study, we established detection methods for 17 major sweet potato viruses using single and multiplex RT-PCR assays. To investigate the current incidence of viral diseases, we collected 154 samples of various sweet potato cultivars showing virus-like symptoms from 40 fields in 10...