ENTOMOLOGY V.A. Vassiliou et al. (2008) Phytoparasitica 36(4):400-404 NOTE: Biotype Status of Bemisia tabaci from Various Crops in Cyprus Vassilis A. Vassiliou, ~'* Christopher Jagge, 2 Maria Grispou, 3 Patricia V. Pietrantonio 2 and Anastasia Tsagkarakou 3,* An extensive survey of Bemisia tabaci populations covering the southern half of the island of Cyprus was conducted in 2006 and 2007 in order to define the biotype status of the pest. Sampling was done both on protected and outdoor cultivations of vegetables and ornamental plants. Biotype identification was performed using molecular diagnostics based on the mitochondrial cytochrome oxydase I gene. Our results indicated the presence of only the biotype B in all 25 collections. KEY WORDS: Mitochondrial DNA; whitefly. The cotton whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Genna- dius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a key eco- nomic pest in Cyprus in both protected and out- door crops. In tomatoes the whitefly damage is compounded by the presence of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), which has become the most limiting factor in greenhouse and open field tomato production. Among the two species present in the Mediterranean region, TYLCV- Israel and TYLC-Sardinia Virus, only the former is found in Cyprus (17). In the Mediterranean basin B. tabaci became a serious pest two decades ago, coinciding with the global expansion of the B biotype which was first distinguished and named as:a different biotype by Costa and Brown, in 1991 (7). The Q biotype was first reported in Spain and it was named and characterized as genetically distinct from the B biotype by Guirao et al., in 1997 (8). Since then, the Mediterranean distribution of Q biotype has been well documented; together with biotype B, these two are currently the most commonbiotypes in the Mediterranean basin (1,21,22). Recently the Q biotype has spread to the USA (5), China (24), Japan (23), Yaiwan (11) and New Zealand (20). In Cyprus, the presence ofB. tabaci B and Q biotypes has been reported by several researchers in the past years (2,4). However, those stud- ies involved few collection sites and only some crops. The purpose of our study was to determine the present status of the biotype identities of B. tabaci from various crops and ornamentals in Cyprus. The mitochondrial cytochrome oxydase I gene (mtCOI gene), a highly informative coding sequence for biotype differentiation in the Be- misia complex (9), was used. Sampling was undertaken on the island of Cyprus (lat. 35'00~ long. 3Y00~ between 2006 and 2007. The origin &the samples and the number of individuals used are shown in Table 1. Adult whiteflies were collected from 3(~50 plants per field, depending on whitefly density and distribution, and were stored until use in 90% ethanol. Insects and templates from known B and Q biotype reference individuals were included in the experiments for comparison with the Cypriot Received March 27, 2008; accepted June 6, 2008; http://www.phytoparasitica.org posting August 8, 2008. 1 Agricultural Research Institute, Plant Protection Section, 1516, Nicosia, Cyprus. 2Dept. of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA. 3National Agricultural Research Foundation (N.AG.RE.F), Plant Protection Institute of Heraklion Heraklion, Greece. *Corresponding authors [e-mail: vassilis@arinet.ari.gov.cy, Fax: +357-22316770; tsagkarakou@nagre f.gr]. 400 V.A. Vassiliou et al.