Determination of whitefly species, natural enemies and Bemisia tabaci (Gen.) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) determination of population fluctuation in cotton South-East Anatolia

A faunistic study on the Whitefly (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) species detected in the Southeast Anatolian Region was conducted between 2019 and 2022 in order to also determine the population fluctuation, natural enemies and hosts of whiteflies in cotton. Especially, the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) sustain its existence by increasing diversity of plant species and the inability to obtain agricutural products all year long. In addition, Whitefly has become an important pest for the Southeastern Anatolia Region, causing serious damage to the agriculture due to an increase in humidity, consequentelly its density. The species belonging to the Aleyrodidae family were collected from different hosts plants by making irregular all-season field trips of agricultural and non-agricultural areas located in the Southeastern Anatolia Region provinces including Şırnak, Siirt, Batman, Diyarbakır, Mardin, Şanlıurfa, Adıyaman, Gaziantep and Kilis between 2019 and 2022. Collected whitefly (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) species were identited by using the pupal shell morphological diagnostic characters. Futhermore, the natural enemies, hosts and population dynemics of the pest were determined. Overall, ten whitefly species were identified from the collected samples. These species were; Bemisia afer (Priesner & Hosny), B. argentifolii (B biyotip) (Bellows and Perring), B. tabaci (Q biyotip) (Gen.), Dialeurodes citri (Ashmead), Dialeurolobus pulcher Datsig, Dialeurolobus rhamni Bink-Moenen & Gerling, Massileurodes setiger Goux, Siphoninus phillyreae (Haliday), Trialeurodes vaporariroum Westwood and Tetraleurodes neemani Bink-Moenen. In the samples collected from agricultural and non-agricultural areas, 22 species belonging to the Coccinelidae family, 6 belonging to the Miridae family, 1 to the Nabidae family, 3 to the Geocoridae family, 2 to the Aphelinidae family and 1 to the Chrysopidae family were identified. Total of 70 host plants were identified in this study. The population Dynamics of the pest indicated that the first whitefly emergence was in the last week of July, as reaching the highest density in mid-August and gradually decreasing towards mid-September. Keywords: Whitefly, Natural enemies, Bemisia tabaci, Population fluctuation, Southeast Anatolia Region-Türkiye