author(s)
Yasodha P, A Fousiya, K Elakkiya, CGL Justin and P Masilamani

abstract
Three exotic whiteflies appeared within a span of two years in India’s coconut plantations viz., Rugose Spiralling Whitefly (Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin) (Martin, et al) ^[6], two nesting whitefly species, Paraleyrodes bondari Peracchi (Bondar’s nesting whitefly) and Paraleyrodes minei Iaccarino were reported in the present study (Iaccarino, et al) ^[4]. The whitefly species are polyphagous pest with more than 200 host plants such as coconut (Iaccarino, et al.) ^[4], guava (Chandrika et al.) ^[1], banana (Martin et al.) ^[7], mango (Dickey et al.) ^[2]. The prolonged during dry spell coupled with decreased relative humidity appears to favour the spread of the pest in coconut plantations (Dickey et al.) ^[2].