Abstract:
Since the first report in 2019, several whitefly species have invaded coconut plantations in Sri
Lanka. Until now, the presence of Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin, Paraleyrodes minei
Iaccarino, Aleurotrachelus atratus Hempel and Aleurodicus dispersus Russell have been confirmed
through morphological and molecular characterization. Another whitefly species was recently
observed in Sri Lankan coconut plantations during the continuous field inspections. Hence, the
present study was conducted to characterize this new species. During the random field surveys
conducted in Gampaha district, whitefly-infested coconut leaflets (n= 20) were randomly
collected. Morphologically similar adults with unique ‘X’ shaped oblique greyish bands on wings
were collected from characteristic wooly wax nests. These adults were then examined under the
stereomicroscope and used for total genomic DNA isolation using the Cetyltrimethylammonium
Bromide (CTAB) method. Subsequently, the extracted DNA samples were subjected to PCR
targeting a specific region of mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (mtCOI) using
universal primers: LCO 1490 and HCO 2198. The resulting PCR products were subjected to 1%
agarose gel electrophoresis under 90 V for 01 hour. PCR products of the expected band size 675
bp were observed. One clear DNA band resulting from PCR amplification was subjected to
bidirectional Sanger sequencing at Macrogen, Republic of Korea. Analysis of the resulting
sequences using BioEdit software and a BLASTn similarity search confirmed the presence of
Paraleyrodes bondari with 99-100% sequence similarity to known samples in the National Center
for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. Therefore, the study confirms the presence of
Bondar’s Nesting Whitefly (BNW), a neotropical whitefly species; P. bondari. Emerging non-native
whitefly species like P. bondari and its polyphagous nature may pose a threat to the Sri Lankan
coconut industry in the future.
