Fourth International Bemisia Workshop International Whitefly Genomics Workshop
Out of Africa: Diversity and host plant utilization in sub-saharan Bemisia tabaci
1 USDA US Horticultural Research Laboratory, Ft. Pierce, FL, USA. Correspondence: lboykin@ushrl.ars.usda.gov
2 Biology Department, University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX, USA
The diversity of Bemisia tabaci in Sub-Saharan Africa is greater than in any other geographic location and suggests Sub-Saharan Africais the likely evolutionary origin of the species. Sampling in Africa is now quite extensive and includes a number of studies that have analyzed host preference within a phylogenetic framework. None of these studies have used consistent nomenclature for the major groups or included all available sequences. We obtained all B. tabaci mitochondrial COI sequences in Genebank from Africa and analyzed them in a Bayesian framework. Herein, we describe a phylogenetic reconstruction and examine those relationships within the parameter of host plant utilization. Discussion of consistent nomenclature for these major clades in Sub-Saharan Africa will also be addressed.