Insect Pests of Vegetable, Ornamental and Spice Crops (2+1)

Thrips

7. Thrips:

Important species: Blossom thrips, Frankliniella schultzei; Onion thrips, Thrips tabaci; Ground nut thrips, Caliothrips indicus

Distribution: Cosmopolitan

Host range: Polyphagous

Identification: Adults are fragile, slender, and minute with fringed wings.

Damage:

• Severely infested flowers wilt, fade and drop prematurely without bearing fruits.
• Lacerate the leaf tissue and imbibing the oozing sap.
• Pale and silvery sheens appear on the affected leaves.
• Blossom thrips, Frankliniella schultzei is also a vector for tomato spotted wilt virus which causes bud necrosis.

Life cycle:

• Parthenogenesis is the main mode of reproduction, though sexual reproduction also occurs.
• A female lays on an average 50 eggs and the life cycle is completed in about 13-33 days.
• Females live longer than males
• Several overlapping generations in a year

Management:

• Application of endosulfan @ 0.05 % or any other insecticide with low residual toxicity
• 
  
• Minor pests of tomato:

SN	Common name	Scientific name	Family	Order
1	Fruit sucking moths	Otheris fullonica, O. materna	Noctuidae Noctuidae	Lepidoptera Lepidoptera
2	Cotton whitefly	Bemisia tabaci	Aleyrodidae	Hemiptera
3	Mealy bug	Ferrisia virgata		Hemiptera
4	Aphids	Aphis gossypii Myzus persicae	Aphididae Aphididae	Hemiptera Hemiptera
5	Cotton jassid	Amrasca bigutulla bigutulla		Hemiptera
6	Potato jassid	Empoasca punjabensis		Hemiptera
7	Bugs	Cyrtopeltis tenuis Nezara viridula	Pentatomidae Pentatomidae	Hemiptera Hemiptera