''Thrips palmi'' is an insect from the genus ''

Thrips Thrips ( order Thysanoptera) are minute (mostly long or less), slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Different thrips species feed mostly on plants by puncturing and sucking up the contents, although a few are ...

'' in the order

Thysanoptera Thrips (order Thysanoptera) are minute (mostly long or less), slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Different thrips species feed mostly on plants by puncturing and sucking up the contents, although a few are ...

.''Thrips palmi'', melon thrips.

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

IFAS. It is known commonly as the melon thrips. It is a primary

vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

plant viruses Plant viruses are viruses that affect plants. Like all other viruses, plant viruses are obligate intracellular parasites that do not have the molecular machinery to replicate without a host. Plant viruses can be pathogenic to higher plants. M ...

. The melon thrips can cause damage to a wide range of glasshouse ornamental and vegetable crops, particularly plants in the families

Cucurbitaceae The Cucurbitaceae, also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera, of which the most important to humans are: *''Cucurbita'' – squash, pumpkin, zucchini, some gourds *''Lagena ...

and

Solanaceae The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orn ...

, 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, causing silvery scars and leaf

chlorosis In botany, chlorosis is a condition in which leaves produce insufficient chlorophyll. As chlorophyll is responsible for the green color of leaves, chlorotic leaves are pale, yellow, or yellow-white. The affected plant has little or no ability to ...

. Plants can be deformed and killed in heavy infestations. The pest almost certainly originated in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

, 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. In Europe there have been outbreaks of ''T. palmi'' on crops in protected cultivation, including several in the Netherlands since 1988 and one in southern England in 2000. These were eradicated. In 2004, there was 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 ''Orthotospovirus'' is a genus of negative-strand RNA viruses, in the family ''Tospoviridae'' of the order ''Bunyavirales,'' which infects plants. Tospoviruses take their name from the species '' Tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus'' (TSWV) which ...

'', which includes tomato spotted wilt virus. ''Thrips palmi'' and the viruses it transmits are not established in Europe, but 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 the viruses were introduced to the UK with imported plant material, thrips species already present there may become vectors, facilitating their spread. ''T. palmi'' is a notifiable pest in the UK, and all susceptible material imported into the country is rigorously checked at points of entry by

DEFRA DEFRA may refer to: * Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, United States law * Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, United Kingdom government department {{Disambiguation ...

Plant Health and Seed Inspectors. Scientists in Japan report that significant reductions in larva and adult melon thrips occur when plants are illuminated with red light.Katai, Yusuke; Ishikawa, Ryusuke; Doi, Makoto; Masui, Shinichi (2015). "Efficacy of Red LED Irradiation for Controlling Thrips palmi in Greenhouse Melon Cultivation". Japanese Journal of Applied Entomology & Zoology. 59 (1): 1–6. doi:10.1303/jjaez.2015.1.

References

;Notes ;Sources
''Thrips palmi''.
University of Hawaii Extension. * {{Taxonbar, from=Q7798263 Thripidae Insect vectors of plant pathogens Agricultural pest insects Fauna of Southeast Asia Insects described in 1925