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...

There is an emerging consensus that parasitoids are limited by the number of eggs which they can lay as well as the amount of time they can search for their hosts. Since egg limitation tends to destabilize host-parasitoid dynamics, successful control of insect pests by parasitoids requires additional stabilizing mechanisms such as heterogeneity in the distribution of parasitoid attacks and host...

Endoparasitic Hymenoptera vary in the extent to which they provision their eggs and thus in the degree to which they appear to rely on their hosts for resources during embryonic development. In this study, developmental rates were examined in two congeneric parasitoid species, Encarsia formosa and E. pergandiella, that provision their eggs to different degrees. E. formosa eggs are much larger t...

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...

(1) Global movement of propagative plant material is a major pathway for introduction of Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) into poinsettia greenhouses. Starting a poinsettia crop with high pest numbers disrupts otherwise successful biological control programs and widespread resistance of B. tabaci against pesticides is limiting growers' options to control this pest; (2) This study investi...

1. Bacterial symbionts have the potential to alter insect fitness, which could influence insect competitive ability. To investigate this possibility, withinhost competitions were staged between individuals of the parasitoid, Encarsia inaron Walker, that were differentially infected with the bacterial symbionts Cardinium and Wolbachia. 2. When parasitoids of different infection status parasitise...

The genus Encarsia Förster includes parasitoid species that are effective natural enemies of whitefly and armoured scale insect agricultural pests. Within this genus, several species groups have been recognized on the basis of morphological similarity, although their monophyly appears uncertain. It is often difficult to separate morphologically similar species, and there is evidence that some s...

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),...