Oviposition behavior of rugose spiraling whitefly (Aleurodicus rugioperculatus)

Rugose spiraling whitefly (RSW), Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin, 2004 is an invasive species which was first found in Florida in 2009.  Over 60 plant species have been recorded as hosts of this whitefly.  In order to better understand the biology of this pest, three experiments were conducted to study its the ovipositional preference: 1)In the first experiment, a correlation between leaf size, spiral size and number of eggs per spiral was measured on a common host plant. The mean and 95% CI for number of eggs per spiral was 24.7 ± 1.6 and a modest positive correlation was found between the spiral area and number of eggs. Also, no significant difference was found between the proportion of eggs laid on fresh versus non-fresh leaves. 2) The ovipositional preference of RSW was studied by exposing the whiteflies to five different host plants. No significant difference was found among the proportions of eggs laid on each plant species. 3) The effect of light on the spatial distribution of eggs laid was studied and showed that RSW laid more eggs on plants located east of their release point compared to plants located west of that point.