Plant viruses transmitted by whiteflies

One-hundred and fourteen virus species are transmitted by whiteflies (family Aleyrodidae). Bemisia tabaci transmits 111 of these species while Trialeurodes vaporariorum and T. abutilonia transmit three species each. B. tabaci and T. vaporariorum are present in the European-Mediterranean region, though the former is restricted in its distribution. Of the whitefly-transmitted virus species, 90% belong to the Begomovirus genus, 6% to the Crinivirus genus and the remaining 4% are in the Closterovirus, Ipomovirus or Carlavirus genera. Other named, whitefly-transmitted viruses that have not yet been ranked as species are also documented. The names, abbreviations and synonyms of the whitefly-transmitted viruses are presented in tabulated form together with details of their whitefly vectors, natural hosts and distribution. Entries are also annotated with references. Whitefly-transmitted viruses affecting plants in the European-Mediterranean region have been highlighted in the text.