Whiteflies (Insecta, Hemiptera, Aleyrodidae) collection
Dr. Mladen Šimala donated the Whitefly Collection (Insecta: Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) to the Croatian Natural History Museum in 2009. The collection consists of 31 permanent microscope slides of whiteflies.
The collection was established through the collecting activities of the donor between 2005 and 2008 in Croatia, with two additional samples originating from imports from the Netherlands and Japan. Systematic faunistic research on whiteflies was conducted between 2005 and 2007 throughout Croatia, covering all 21 counties. Through visual surveys, 1,237 leaf samples were collected from a total of 315 localities.
A total of 1,180 permanent microscope slides of whiteflies were prepared, and 30 species were identified on 201 host plant species belonging to 70 plant families. During the three-year faunistic survey, 20 whitefly species were recorded for the first time in the Croatian fauna.
The collection has been comprehensively processed from both museological and scientific perspectives and formed the basis of Dr. Mladen Šimala’s doctoral dissertation entitled Fauna of Whiteflies (Insecta: Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in the Republic of Croatia, with Special Reference to the Species Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius, 1889) (2008, doctoral dissertation, Faculty of Agriculture, Osijek).
Collection Curator: Iva Mihoci
