| Abstract: | Whiteflies (Hemiptera, Aleyrodidae) are represented by more than 1,500 herbivorous species around the world. Some of them are notorious pests of cassava (Manihot
esculenta), a primary food crop in the tropics. Particularly destructive is a complex of Neotropical cassava whiteflies whose distribution remains restricted to their native range. Despite their importance, neither their distribution, nor that of their associated parasitoids, is well documented. This paper therefore reports observational and specimen-based occurrence records of Neotropical cassava whiteflies and their associated parasitoids and hyperparasitoids. The dataset consists of 1,311 distribution records documented by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) between 1975 and 2012. The specimens are held at CIAT’s Arthropod Reference Collection (CIATARC, Cali, Colombia). Eleven species of whiteflies, 14 species of parasitoids and one species of hyperparasitoids are reported. Approximately 66% of the whitefly records belong to Aleurotrachelus
socialis and 16% to Bemisia
tuberculata. The parasitoids with most records are Encarsia
hispida, Amitus
macgowni and Encarsia
bellottii for Aleurotrachelus
socialis; and Encarsia
sophia for Bemisia
tuberculata. The complete dataset is available in Darwin Core Archive format via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). |
