Four strains of the Q biotype and one of the B biotype of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci collected from China were characterised for resistance to four neonicotinoid insecticides and pymetrozine. Q biotype strains showed moderate to strong resistance to imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and acetamiprid, but little or no cross-resistance to dinotefuron. Resistance to neonicotinoids was consistently associated with resistance to pymetrozine, despite the latter having a distinct (though unresolved) mode of action. The single B biotype strain proved largely susceptible to all the insecticides investigated. Resistance in the Q biotype strains was associated with over-expression of a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase gene, CYP6CM1, whose substrate specificity presumably accounts for the observed cross-resistance profiles.