Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) is one of the most important pests in cultivated areas of vegetables and ornamental crops around the world. Based on the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidize I (mtCOI) sequence, there is evidence that B. tabaci should be considered a cryptic species complex of 11 groups containing 24 species. Two of the groups, Middle East-Asia Minor 1 and Mediterranean include biotypes B and Q, respectively. In this study we evaluated the mtCOI sequence of B. tabaci populations collected in sites of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Using PCR-RFLP with Taq I, a typical biotype B profile was obtained for all specimens. Based on the comparison with mtCOI reference sequences we found four haplotypes all belonging to the Middle East-Asia Minor 1. They occurred in the hosts pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) and cucurbitaceae plants.
RFLP; cytochrome oxidase I gene; sequencing; whiteflies
