About Thrips palmi

Thrips palmi is an insect from the genus Thrips in the order Thysanoptera. It is known commonly as the melon thrips.

It is a primary vector of plant viruses. The melon thrips 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, causing silvery scars and leaf chlorosis. Plants can be deformed and killed in heavy infestations. The pest almost certainly originated in Southeast Asia, but in recent decades it has been widely introduced and has been observed throughout Asia and the Pacific, Florida, the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and Australia.[1]

Picture credit: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons (Image source)

Taxonomy ID 161013

(Text from Wikipedia.)

More information General information about this species can be found in Wikipedia

Taxonomy ID 161013

Data source Institute of Plant and Environmental Protection, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences

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