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However, some thrips, including rose thrips, onion thrips, and western flower thrips, damage plants. They can weaken vegetables and flowers and even spread plant diseases . What Do Thrips Look Like?
Many thrips are pests of commercial crops due to the damage they cause by feeding on developing flowers or vegetables, causing discoloration, deformities, and reduced marketability of the crop. Some thrips serve as vectors for plant diseases, such as tospoviruses . [ 84 ]
Thrips simplex is a tiny insect, measuring 2 mm (0.08 in) long, with a long slender brownish-black body with a pale band at the base of the wings. The larvae are wingless and yellow or orange. These thrips live hidden inside the leaf and flower sheaths of their host plants where they suck sap, usually occurring in groups.
Thrips palmi is an insect from the genus Thrips in the order Thysanoptera. [1] 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.
The insect damages the plant in several ways. The major damage is caused by the adult ovipositing in the plant tissue. The plant is also injured by feeding, which leaves holes and areas of silvery discoloration when the plant reacts to the insect's saliva. Nymphs feed heavily on new fruit just beginning to develop from the flower.
In order to protect their eggs, thrips insert their eggs into various types of plant tissue. Eggs can be found in the stems, leaves, or flowers of plants. [8] Thrips hatch in 2–3 days and complete their life cycle in 20–30 days. [2] Adult thrips feed on the flower bud, stem and leaf parts of the plant. [8]
Western Flower Thrips are extremely hard to remove from their host plants, as they often dig themselves deep into blossoms, buds and other areas hard to reach with insecticides. [9] So, even if plants are sprayed regularly with insecticide, INSV and other insect vectored viruses can not always be ruled out when forming diagnosis. [10]
The flowers are damaged causing discolouration, distortion and stunting, and may die. Secondary damage is caused by the viruses that can be transmitted between plants. [1] The insect can be a vector of tomato spotted wilt virus, which causes a serious disease of groundnuts and other crops. [7]