Q Tips

THERE is a new version of an old pest that may impact field and greenhouse vegetable production - if given time. In late 2004, a new biotype of the sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tahaci, was identified in the U.S. by scientists at the University of Arizona.

A biotype is a race of a species that

The whitefly population collected in the U.S. from poinsettias at a retail nursery, identified as being from the Q-biotype, had reduced susceptibility to a variety of insecticides relative to susceptible or resistant U.S. populations of the silverleaf whitefly (a.k.a. B-biotype).

In response, an Ad Hoc Q-biotype Whitefly Task Force was established last year including representatives from the vegetable, cotton, and ornamentals industries, as well as regulators and scientists who have been working to avoid panic reactions from any one industry segment or from regulators.