Thrips palmi
Encyclopedia
Thrips palmi is an insect from the Thrips
Thrips (genus)
Thrips is a genus of thrips.-Ecology:Species in the genus Thrips feed on pollen, and can be major agricultural pests, with several being vectors of tospoviruses.-Etymology:...

genus (Order Thysanoptera).

It is a primary vector of plant viruses
Tospovirus
The Tospoviruses are a genus of negative RNA virus found within the family Bunyaviridae. They are the sole group of plant infecting viruses in this family, as all other described members of the Bunyaviridae infect animals. The genus takes its name from the discovery of Tomato spotted wilt virus ...

. Also known as the melon thrips, T. palmi can cause damage to a wide range of glasshouse ornamental and vegetable crops, particularly plants in the families Cucurbitaceae
Cucurbitaceae
The plant family Cucurbitaceae consists of various squashes, melons, and gourds, including crops such as cucumber, pumpkins, luffas, and watermelons...

 and Solanaceae
Solanaceae
Solanaceae are a family of flowering plants that include a number of important agricultural crops as well as many toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear...

, such as cucumber, aubergine, tomato and sweet pepper.

Adults and nymphs feed by sucking the cell contents from leaves, stems, flowers and the surface of fruits, thereby causing silvery scars, and leaf chlorosis. Plant growth can be deformed and heavily scarred. A severe infestation can kill the entire plant. The pest almost certainly originated in South-East Asia, but in the past couple of decades it has greatly increased its geographic range so that it is now found throughout Asia and the Pacific, and has spread to Florida and the Caribbean, as well as parts of South America, Africa and Australia.

Within Europe, there have been outbreaks of T. palmi on crops in protected cultivation, several in the Netherlands since 1988 as well as one outbreak in southern England in 2000. All of these outbreaks were eradicated. In 2004, there was also a report of T. palmi on an outdoor crop in Portugal. Thrips palmi has the potential to introduce and spread several non-indigenous plant viruses of the genus Tospovirus., the group that includes Tomato spotted wilt virus. Thrips palmi and the viruses it transmits are not established in the EU. However, they continue to present a risk especially to a wide range of glasshouse grown crops and have the potential to cause significant economic impacts. If these viruses were introduced to the UK with imported plant material, it is possible that species of thrips already established in the UK may then prove able to act as vectors thereby facilitating their spread. As T. palmi is a notifiable pest in the UK, all susceptible material imported into the country is rigorously checked at points of entry by DEFRA Plant Health and Seed Inspectors.

External References

  • University of Hawaii Extension article on Thrips palmi
  • UF
    University of Florida
    The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...

     / IFAS
    Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
    The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...

    Featured Creature article on Thrips palmi, melon thrips
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