173A, Pupal case with a dark area along the back. Whiteflies are very small insects that resemble tiny white moths.
Whiteflies usually feed on the lower surface of their host plant leaves.
From the egg hatches a minute crawler stage that moves about the leaf until it inserts its microscopic, threadlike mouthparts to feed by sucking sap from the phloem. Adults and nymphs excrete honeydew, a sticky, viscous liquid in which dark sooty molds grow. Because many species of adult whiteflies are similar in appearance, entomologists use the last nymph stage for specific identification. In 1986, a whitefly very similar to the sweetpotato whitefly suddenly became a noticeable pest of poinsettias and commercial vegetables in Florida and California. This whitefly spread throughout the greenhouse industry in the United States in the next few years and is now the most frequently encountered whitefly pest of poinsettia and gerbera daisy.