Phytoparasitica (2001) 29, p. 75 (Argaman et al.)

Q. Argaman and Z. Klein (2001)
The identity of the silverleaf whitefly
Phytoparasitica 29 (1), 75-75
18th Conference of the Entomological Society of Israel, May 18, 2000, Bet Dagan, Israel, lecture
Abstract: The tobacco whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius, 1889), was originally described in the genus Aleurodes. It was considered for a century to be a minor pest of few cultivated plants. When Quaintance and Baker (1914) revised the exhaustive classification of the Aleyrodidae, they established the genus Bemisia. Altogether 22 species from various parts of the world are regarded as identical, and therefore synonyms of B. tabaci. In 1990 the whitefly became a major problem of plant protection, which led Perring to the conjecture that this pest is a different strain. It is bigger than the tobacco whitefly, precludes a fertile interbreeding with it and produces a considerable amount of honeydew and a plant disorder referred to as silverleaf. It is also known as a vector of some dangerous viruses. Later on, some very sophisticated techniques of chromosomal (PCR) and enzymatic research were employed for an accurate separation. This new whitefly was first isolated as 'strain B' of the tobacco whitefly and was later given the common name silverleaf whitefly. It was finally described as Bemisia argentifolii by Bellows and Perring in 1994. The two species, B. tabaci and B. argentifolii, could easily be identified by microscopic examination. The silverleaf whitefly: its fourth nymphal instar case is relatively broad, short oval in shape, with more round and less converging margins; the lateral abdominal contour is convex; the thoracic thracheal fold is half as wide as in the tobacco whitefly; both the thoracic and tracheal folds tend to have fewer wax projections. Possessing these diagnostic features, it is obvious that the species B. argentifolii Bellows and Perring, 1994, described from California, is the same species as Bemisia longispina Priesner and Hosny, 1934, from Egypt. Until such a revision of the 37 and more, valid, described species of the genus Bemisia becomes feasible, the extensively polyphagus, widely distributed, and plant-disorders-causing silverleaf whitefly should be regarded as B. longispina. More biological and ecological observations have to be obtained.
Database assignments for author(s): Zwi Klein

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
identification/taxonomy

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Bemisia tabaci biotype MEAM1
	Bemisia tabaci