The diploid cotton species belonging to A, D and tetraploids with AD genome were screened for the presence/absence of components of cotton leaf curl complex. These cotton species are being maintained in a living herbarium for more than fourdecades under natural conditions. As expected, the two diploid species (Gossypium arboreum and G. herbaceum) of A genome, were found to be free of virus when screened by PCR and Φ29 DNA polymerase. The two cotton species of D genome (G. thurberii and G. aridum) showed the presence of begomovirus. The species belonging to AD genome were found to be susceptible to CLCuD due to the presence of both begomovirus and betasatellite. However, the interesting exception among D genome species was G. gossypioides. The results from present study suggest that G. gossypioides is a valuable resource for mapping of resistance by developing segregating populations and for developing synthetic tetraploids.