Invasion and Establishment of the Solanum Whitefly Aleurothrixus trachoides (Back) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in South India

Trade, transport and travel are the major drivers of bioinvasions and will continue to increase as a by-product of globalization. Agricultural practices that simplify ecosystems by focusing on a small number of crops by eliminating predators and competitors generally make those systems more vulnerable to invasion. The Neotropical solanum whitefly, Aleurothrixus trachoides is found to be invasive in India; it is presently spreading fast in South India infesting many economically important plants of the family Solanaceae like brinjal (Figure 1 a), chilli (Figure 1 b), and tomato (Figure 1 c), and sandalwood (Figure 1 d), as well as some medicinal, ornamental (Figure 1 e) and weed species (Figure 1 f).