Tospoviridae

species of virus

Orthotospovirus is a genus of negative-strand RNA viruses, in the family Tospoviridae of the order Elliovirales, which infects plants. Tospoviruses take their name from the species Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) which was discovered in Australia in 1919. TSWV remained the only known member of the family until the early 1990s when genetic characterisation of plant viruses became more common. There are now 36 species in the genus. Member viruses infect over eight hundred plant species from 82 different families.