Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) entries were evaluated for resistance to the whitefly (Bemisia tabaci biotype B) and cotton leaf crumple (CLCr) disease during the 1999 to 2001 growing seasons in the Imperial Valley of California. Entries were evaluated for densities of whitefly adults and nymphs, and for CLCr, by visual rating and squash/dot blot hybridization analyses. Differences in whitefly densities were detected among entries, but none were highly resistant, nor was there any correlation with CLCr disease severity. Entries AP 4103 and AP 6101 had relatively low whitefly densities and were highly susceptible (high CLCr disease severity ratings and viral titers), whereas NK 2387C and DPX 1883 also had low whitefly densities but were highly resistant (no symptoms or detectable viral titers). Other entries showed moderate CLCr resistance, which was independent of whitefly density. Geminivirus DNA-A and DNA-B components were consistently detected in cotton leaves with CLCr symptoms by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with degenerate begomovirus primers, and full-length DNA-A and DNA-B clones were obtained. Cotton seedlings inoculated with these cloned DNAs by particle bombardment developed CLCr symptoms, and progeny virus was whitefly-transmissible. Sequence analysis revealed that these clones comprised the genome of a California isolate of the bipartite begomovirus Cotton leaf crumple virus (CLCrV-CA). Thus, CLCr disease in the Imperial Valley is caused by CLCrV-CA, and cotton entries with high levels of resistance were identified.