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Title: DO SILVERLEAF WHITEFLIES USE LEAF SURFACE CUES FOR FEEDIN SITES SELECTION?

Author
item CHU, CHANG CHI
item FREEMAN, THOMAS - NDSU, FARGO, ND
item BUCKNER, JAMES
item HENNEBERRY, THOMAS
item NELSON, DENNIS

Submitted to: Sweetpotato Whitefly Progress Review Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Crawlers have limited mobility and limited time to find feeding sites that assure access to vascular leaf tissues and their survival. We reported earlier that crawlers spend about 80% of their time in contact with vein- associated, elongated epidermal cells and non-glandular branched trichomes located on cotton underleaf surfaces. We also reported that leaf trichomes slocated in proximity to vascular bundles may provide directional orientation for whiteflies to acceptable feeding sites. Using EPG technique we found lately that adult females probe into secondary and tertiary leaf veins as well as between veins of cotton leaves. It appears that whiteflies may use leaf surface cues for feeding site selection. However, recent descriptions of cotton leaf morphology show that whiteflies can reach phloem tissues from almost any position on the underleaf surface of young leaves and thus may not require the presence of surface cues. Thus, whether whiteflies do use leaf surface cues for feeding site selection remains a question warrant more studies.