You are viewing this Species as classified by:  IUCN threat
status:  Not evaluated  Brief Summary  Read full entry The sweet
potato whitefly Bemisia tabaci is an invasive species thought to
have originated in India, but in the last 15 years has spread,
most likely on ornamental plants, to become a pest of enormous
and escalating economic impact around the world. Although its
native climate is tropical and subtropical, it is now found
through out temperate areas as well, although it is susceptible
to cold temperatures. Bemisia tabaci ranks in the top 100 Worst
Invasive Species in the Global Invasive Species Database
maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN). The sweet potato whitefly is considered a complex of
about 19 molecularly-identified “biotypes” some also
identifiable by host preference and pesticide resistance. Some
also consider this complex to contain two distinct cryptic
species, Bemisia tabaci and B. argentifolii (also known as the
silverleaf whitefly or sweet potato w