Presence of the invasive whitefly<i>Aleurocanthus spiniferus</i>(Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in Greece

Abstract

Aleurocanthus spiniferus (Quaintance) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), commonly known as the citrus (or orange) spiny whitefly, is an important pest of various economic crops such as citrus and tea and causes severe economic losses. It is reported for the first time in Greece, in the island of Corfu (North‐West Greece) on sweet orange trees ( Citrus sinensis ). Morphological and molecular data has been used for species identification. Sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I ( COI ) gene from Greek populations have been compared with sequences of the species from Italy and Montenegro, as well as with COI sequences retrieved from GenBank, to examine the genetic diversity of the species. Based on the preliminary results, it appears that the population from Corfu probably arose through several independent introductions.