PREFERENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREENHOUSE WHITEFLY TRIALEURODES VAPORARIORUM (HOMOPTERA: ALEYRODIDAE) ON STRAWBERRIES AND FOUR OTHER HOST PLANT SPECIES IN CALIFORNIA

The greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood), has been a serious pest of many horticultural crops in coastal California. We investigated the preference and developmental duration of the whitefly on strawberry, pepper, tomato, lima bean and cucumber. The most preferred host for the adult whiteflies was cucumber, followed by tomato, strawberry, lima bean and pepper. Developmental time for eggs on the five host-plants species ranged from 9.6 to 10.1 days. Developmental duration for the first instar crawler was 7.4 days on strawberry, 6.1 days on cucumber, 6.2 days on lima bean, 6.6 days on pepper and 5.7 days on tomato. Developmental duration for the second instar was 5.4 days on pepper, 4.9 days on tomato, 4.8 days on strawberry, 3.6 days on cucumber and 3.3 days on lima bean. Developmental duration for the third instar was 6.4 days on strawberry, a 36, 56 and 31% longer than these on cucumber, pepper and tomato, respectively, whereas the developmental time on cucumber, lima bean, pepper and tomato was similar. The fourth instar developmental time on strawberry, cucumber, lima bean and tomato ranged from 7.5 to 8.7 days, which were longer than that on pepper (5.4 days). The total developmental time from egg to adults was 35.3, 32.7, 31.8, 31.6 and 31.4 days on strawberry, cucumber, lima bean, tomato and pepper, respectively.