Morphological and mitochondrial DNA marker analyses of whiteflies (Homoptera : Aleyrodidae) colonizing cassava and beans in Colombia

Morphology of the third antennal segment and compound eyes of adults of the whitefly species Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), B. argentifoli Bellows & Perr ing. B. tuberculata (Bondar), Trialeurodes caporariorum (Westwood), T. vari ables (Quaintance), and Aleurotrachelus socialis (Bondar) were studied usin g scanning electron micrcroscopy to aid in identification of adult whitefli es in cassava and beans in Colombia. Random amplified polymorphic DNA polym erase chain reaction markers proved complementary to the morphological iden tification of whitefly species and the only rapid method to distinguish ind ividuals in the Bemisia tabaci species complex. From each species of whitef ly, a region of the mitochondrial 16S rDNA gene was amplified, cloned and t he sequence determined. Parsimony and distance analyses were performed and the results were similar to those based on morphology. The distance between the two species of Trialeurodes was greater than expected for two species within the same genus. The combination of morphological and molecular trait s is useful in understanding the diversity and evolution of these whitefly species.