Sweetpotato whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) is an insect pest. It was first detected in New York in 1987.
The sweetpotato whitefly has an extremely wide host range. It attacks more than 500 species of plants from 63 plant families. Direct feeding damage is caused by the piercing and sucking sap from the foliage of plants. This feeding causes weakening and early wilting of the plant and reduces the plant growth rate and yield.