During 1991, in Brazil, the presence of the exotic Bemisia tabaci B mitotype was reported in São Paulo state. However, the duration from the time of initial introduction to population upsurges is not known. To investigate whether the 1991 B mitotype outbreaks in Brazil originated in São Paulo or from migrating populations from neighboring introduction sites, country-wide field samples of B. tabaci archived from 1989-2005 collections were subjected to analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtCOI) and nuclear RNA-binding protein 15 (RP-15) sequences. The results of mtCOI sequence analysis identified all B. tabaci as the NAFME 8 haplotype of the B mitotype. Phylogenetic analyses of RP-15 sequences revealed that the B mitotype was likely a hybrid between a B type parent related to a haplotype Ethiopian endemism (NAFME 1-3), and an unidentified parent from the North Africa-Middle East (NAF-ME) region. Results provide the first evidence that this widely invasive B mitotype has evolved from a previously undocumented hybridization event. Samples from Rio de Janeiro (1989) and Ceará state (1990), respectively, are the earliest known B mitotype records in Brazil. A simulated migration for the 1989 introduction predicted a dispersal rate of 200-500 km/year, indicating that the population was unlikely to have reached Ceará by 1990. Results implicated two independent introductions of the B mitotype in Brazil in 1989 and 1990, that together were predicted to have contributed to the complete invasion of Brazil in only 30 generations.
Keywords: dispersal; invasive species; migration; museum collections; whitefly.
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