Sweet Potato Whitefly:
Sweet Potato Whitefly Bemisia Tabaci Phylum Arthropoda First originated in the Mediterranean and prefer tropical and warmer temperate regions Transmit more than a hundred different plant viruses Feed on more than 600 host plants.
White Clouds:
White Clouds Whiteflies can cause up to millions of dollars in damages in a single crop season Resistant to insecticides Colonize in large numbers Whiteflies have specially develop mouths meant to pierce and suck on a plants phloem. Strips the nutrients from plants and suck out the sugary substances. Produces honeydew
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Infected Plant Uninfected Plant
Rickettsia:
Rickettsia
What is Rickettsia?:
What is Rickettsia ? Whiteflies populati o n infected with Rickettsia increase from 1% to 97% Rickettsia is a bacteria closely related to the bacteria that causes typhus in humans Rickettsia has a symbiotic relationship with whiteflies Whiteflies infected produce twice as many offspring Offspring live longer Better chance of survival Produces more females than males
Slide 7:
Spread of Rickettsia in Sweet Potato Whiteflies
A disadvantage of Rickettsia?:
A disadvantage of Rickettsia ? Recent studies show whiteflies infected with Rickettsia are more susceptible to new insecticides Rickettsia may weaken whiteflies against environmental conditions