Bemisia tabaci more than causing significant losses to many agricultures, is a disperser of mite in biofuel crops

The tarsonemid Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks), an obligatorily phytophage, is a leading pest of the oilseed crop Jatropha curcas L. (physic nut), potentially reducing its yield . We explored interaction between P. latus and winged insects associated with J. curcas , particularly the whitefly ( Bemisia tabaci [Gennadius, 1889]), considering the site of P. latus adherence, the sex of adhered individuals, and the P. latus : B. tabaci ratio in relation to the annual rainy and dry seasons. No B. tabaci individuals or evidence of P. latus phoresy was observed in sticky traps sampled on a weekly basis, nor was there evidence of P. latus dispersal by wind. However, weekly mouth aspiration samples of B. tabaci from pinion plants verified the phoretic association of P. latus and B. tabaci. Both the mite and whitefly populations showed seasonal fluctuations and decreased significantly with the fall of J. curcas leaves at the beginning of the annual drought. All phoretic P. latus individuals were adult females found adhered to the legs of B. tabaci . We concluded that P. latus is affected by the population dynamics of B. tabaci and that the phoretic association of this mite with whitefly is significant for its dispersion in commercial J. curcas plantations and should be taken into consideration when developing mite management strategies.