Thrips palmi

Thrips palmi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Thysanoptera
Family:	Thripidae
Subfamily:	Thripinae
Genus:	Thrips
Species:	T. palmi
Binomial name
Thrips palmi Karny, 1925

Thrips palmi is an insect from the Thrips genus (Order Thysanoptera).^[1]

It is a primary vector of plant viruses. 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 and Solanaceae, such as cucumber, aubergine, tomato and sweet pepper.^[1]

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.^[1]

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.^[2], 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.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} UF / IFAS Featured Creature article on Thrips palmi, melon thrips
2. ^ L. R. Nault (1997). "Arthropod transmission of plant viruses: a new synthesis". Annals of Entomological Society of America 90: 521–541.

External References

• University of Hawaii Extension article on Thrips palmi
• UF / IFAS Featured Creature article on Thrips palmi, melon thrips
• Vi Meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee of Plant Protection Directors, IICA, 12 June 1990, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Q0ZjAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA65&dq=Thrips+palmi&hl=en&ei=wvIwTJWZMom6OIrZtMsB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Thrips%20palmi&f=false, retrieved 2010-07-04