Whitefly adults and nymphs feed by which mechanism?

• A. Removing plant fluids from the leaves
• B. Chewing leaves
• C. Piercing stems
• D. Galling

Answer: (A)

Whiteflies feed using piercing-sucking mouthparts that tap into leaf tissue to withdraw sap, primarily from the phloem. This sap-sucking method is why the best description is removing plant fluids from the leaves. They don’t chew leaf tissue, and they don’t feed on stems or cause galls; those would involve different feeding or tissue-damage patterns. Both adults and nymphs use the same sap-feeding strategy, which is why this description fits their behavior across life stages.