Turkish Journal of Entomology (2003) 27, 51-60
M. Rifat Ulusoy and Erol Bayhan (2003)
[A new whitefly species on vegetable fields in the east mediterranean region of Turkey: Silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia argentifolii Bellows and Perring (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae)]
Turkish Journal of Entomology 27 (1), 51-60
Abstract: In the study, Bemisia argentifolii Bellows and Perring (B. tabaci B biotype) was found for the first time on vegetables in the east Mediterranean part of Turkey. In our morphological studies we describe the B. argentifolii vasiform orifice which is an important structure to distinguish the species of Bemisa which shows similarities with the B. tabaci M biotype. It was determined that tracheal and caudal folds were the most evident morphological characters of the two biotypes of Bemisia. Tracheal folds in B. argentifolii are approximately half that of the B. tabaci M biotype. It was found that the mean tracheal fold is 21.5 µm in B. argentifolii, while for B. tabaci M biotype it is 51.3 µm.
In 1996, B. argentifolii was observed on vegetable fields in Mersin which is located in the east Mediterranean area. However since autumn of 2000, the silverleaf whitefly has spread all over the region. Particularly, reproducing populations of the pest were observed on squash, on other vegetable hosts such as bean, cucumber, tomato, pepper, radish and eggplant, cotton and citrus, also on some ornamental hosts such as Gerberia jamesonii, Euphorbia pulcherrima, E. milii var. splendens and E. neriifolia.
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(original language: Turkish)
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Database assignments for author(s): Mehmet Rifat Ulusoy, Erol Bayhan
Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution
