Frankliniella bispinosa (Morgan) is the key pest of southern highbush blueberries ( Vaccinium corymbosum L. × V. darrowi Camp) in Florida. Thrips feeding and oviposition injury to developing flowers can result in fruit scarring that renders the fruit unmarketable. Previous studies have shown that flower thrips can disperse into cultivated crops from surrounding host plants. Therefore, the objec...

The population dynamics and biology of the gall-inducing insect, Crotonothrips polyalthiae Mound & Nasruddin, and its damage to Polyalthia longifolia Sonn. were studied in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, from 15 Aug 2010 to 25 Jul 2011. The average number of thrips per gall, young leaves per plant, and bi-weekly rainfall peaked 3 times during the survey. The average number of living thrips...

It is suggested that descriptive taxonomy of thrips must be integrated into biological studies if we are to understand patterns of evolutionary and ecological diversity. Collecting and describing new taxa is easy, but understanding their position in ecosystems and how they have contributed to the origin and maintenance of biological diversity is more important yet more difficult. Many authors f...

BACKGROUND The effect of spatial separation of the semiochemical Lurem-TR, which has been found to inhibit conidia of entomopathogenic fungi when put together, on the persistence of conidia of Metarhizium brunneum and M. anisopliae was evaluated in the greenhouse and field in order to develop an autodissemination strategy for the management of Megalurothrips sjostedti on cowpea crop. Influence ...

Thrips (Order: Thysanoptera; Family: Thripidae) are insects that suck epidermal lymph after biting and are endowered with raspingsucking mouthparts. They live in huge niches and include phytophagous, fungivorous and predacious species. Thrips are often overlooked as they are small in size, move rapidly and are light in colour. However, thrips may become a nuisance when they swarm and land on ex...

A system is described for collecting adult and larva of Thrips tabaci from onion foliage into insecticide-treated vials to evaluate susceptibility to insecticides. The thrips insecticide bioassay system (TIBS) allows one to treat vials and store them for 3 weeks before thrips are collected. Depending on the population density in the field, collection of the insects for the test required from 3-...

BACKGROUND The spread of the western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), resulted in the worldwide destabilization of established integrated pest management programs for many crops. Efforts to control the pest and the thrips-vectored tospoviruses with calendar applications of broad-spectrum insecticides have been unsuccessful. The result has been a cl...

The western flower thrips Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) is a cosmopolitan, polyphagous insect pest that causes bronzing to fruit of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa). The main aim of this study was to test whether mass trapping could reduce damage and to predict whether this approach would be economically viable. In semi-protected strawberry crops, mass trapping...

The is an overview of our knowledge of thrips in Slovenia. It includes a check-list of species recorded, indicating the plants from which specimens have been taken and the collectors. Special attention is given to work on thrips during the last five years, focusing on some species of potential economical importance. but in the inner land single specimens can be found as early as March and as la...

Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) is transmitted in a persistent propagative manner by Frankliniella occidentalis, the western flower thrips. While it is well established that vector competence depends on TSWV acquisition by young larvae and virus replication within the insect, the biological factors associated with frequency of transmission have not been well characterized. We hypothesized that...