 Like other viruses in this genus, "Bidens mottle virus" is transmitted both mechanically by sap and by aphids in a stylet-borne fashion.BiMoV was first described in 1968 by Steve Christie, John Edwardson, and Bill Zettler from the Plant Pathology and Agronomy Departments at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.This virus was originally isolated from a mottled plant of the common weed "Bidens pilosa" collected in Gainesville – hence the name "Bidens mottle virus".