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ORANGE SPINY WHITEFLY

Aleurocanthus spiniferus (Quaintance) -- Homoptera, Aleyrodidae

(Contacts)

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This whitefly of apparent Asian origin, is occasionally a serious pest in Asia. Although it has been found in Hawaii, Guam, Mauritius and East Africa, it has not posed a serious threat there (Kennett et al. 1999). Biological control possibilities were considered in Japan in the early 1920's. Encarsia smithi, and the coccinellid Cryptognatha sp. were imported from China (Kuwana & Ishii 1927). Only the parasitoid established, and it quickly gave complete biological control (DeBach 1974). The whitefly first appeared in Guam in 1951 and in 1952 Encarsia smithi, Encarsia clypealis, and Encarsia opulenta (Silvestri), Eretomocerus serius and Amitus hesperidum were imported from Mexico (Peterson 1955). Only E. smithi and A. hesperidum established, but complete biological control was attained primarily through the action of E. smithi. In Hawaii the whitefly was first found in 1974, and A. hesperidum was introduced from Mexico and E. smithi from Japan. Both parasitoids established, but control was not reported (Nakao & Funasaki 1975).

Please also see the following for further details on biological control effort, and biologies of host and natural enemies (Kodama 1931, Sawada et al. 1932, Kuwana 1934, Smith et al. 1964). Also <ch-99.htm>

REFERENCES: [Additional references may be found at: MELVYL Library ]

Clausen, C. P. 1978b. Aleyrodidae. In: Introduced Parasites and Predators of Arthropod Pests and Weeds. U. S. Dept. Agric. Agric. Handbk. No. 480, Washington, D.C. 545 p.

DeBach, P. 1974. Biological Control by Natural Enemies. Cambridge Univ. Press, London, New York. 323 p.

Kennett, C. E., J. A. McMurtry & J. W. Beardsley. 1999. Biological control in subtropical and tropical crops. Bellows, T. S. & T. W. Fisher (eds.), Handbook of Biological Control: Principles and Applications. Academic Press, San Diego, New York. 1046 p.

Kodama, G. 1931. Studies on Aleurocanthus spiniferus Quaint. Kagoshima-Ken, Kyushu, Japan. 38 p. (Abs. in Rev. Appl. Ent. (A): 113)

Kuwana, I. & T. Ishii. 1927. On Prospaltella smithi Silv., and Cryptognatha sp., the enemies of Aleurocanthus spiniferus, imported from Canton, China. J. Okitsu Hort. Soc. 22: 77-80.

Kuwana, I. 1934. Notes on a newly imported parasite of the spiny white fly attacking citrus in Japan. 5th Pacific Sci. Cong. Proc. (1933) 5: 3521-23.

Nakao, H. K. & G. Y. Funasaki. 1975. Introductions for biological control. Proc. Hawaiian Ent. Soc. 22: 329-31.

Peterson, G. D., Jr. 1955. Biological control of the spiny whitefly in Guam. J. Econ. Ent. 48: 681-83.

Sawada, E., N. Ikeda & K. Tanaka. 1932. Studies on Prospaltella smithi Silv., an enemy of Aleurocanthus spiniferus Quaint. Japan Dept. Agric. & Forestry Bur. Agric. Materials for Agric. Impr. 42: 1-28.

Smith, H. D., H. L. Maltby & J. E. Jimenez. 1964. Biological control of the citrus blackfly in Mexico. U. S. Dept. Agric. Tech. Bull. 1311. 30 p.