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Avocado Thrips

 

Scirtothrips perseae Nakahara -- Thysanoptera: Thripidae

 

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       Avocado thrips were first detected in California in June of 1996 when they were damaging foliage in a Ventura County orchard.  Since then the thrips population has increased rapidly causing significant damage to foliage and fruit in Ventura.  In little under a year, the thrips spread southward and was found in San Diego County in May of 1997.  By July of 1997, significant damage attributable to avocado thrips was noticed in several orchards in San Diego County.  Foreign exploration for the avocado thrips and its natural enemies indicates that this pest is commonly found on avocados grown between Mexico City and Guatemala City.  Genetic analyses suggest that the source of California's thrip population was Coatepec-Harinas in Mexico.  Avocado thrips have not been recorded in any other host plant in California, indicating it may have a limited host plant range and close evolutionary history with avocados.  Avocados evolved in the southern Mexico to northern Guatemala area.  The insect infests about eighty percent of the commercial avocado acreage in California.  However, by 2022 this pest has been unable to establish in inland valley areas not within the influence of marine breezes that moderate summer temperatures.  Studies have shown that this pest is intolerant of above 30°C [86°F]) and population growth is greatest when temperatures are lower (20°C [67°F]).

 

       Thrips populations build to very high levels (i.e., 100-400 larvae per leaf) over winter and spring causing damage to leaves and scarring of young fruit.  Some orchards sustained 80-100% fruit scarring with some fruits turning brown and mummified.  The quantity of first-grade fruit produced was reduced, on average, by about 27 percent in orchards with avocado thrips.

 

 

REFERENCES                                                                                                  FURTHER RELATED REFERENCES

 

Bellows Jr.,T. S. & E. F. Legner.  1993.  Foreign exploration. In: R. G. Van Driesche  & T. S.  Bellows Jr. (Eds.), Steps in Classical Arthropod  Biological Control.  Proceedings of Thomas Say Publications n Entomology.  Entomological Society of America, Lanham, Maryland, pp. 25–42.

 

Firko, M. J.  1995.  Importation of avocado fruit (Persea americana) from Mexico: Supplemental Risk Assessment.  Available from: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/avocados/PRAmemo.pdf.

 

Fleschner, C. A.   1954.  Biological control of avocado pests.  California Avocado Society Yearbook 38:  125–129.

 

Fleschner, C. A., J. C. Hall  & D. W. Ricker.  1955.  Natural balance of mite pests in an avocado grove.  California Avocado Society Yearbook 39:  155–162 .

 

Funderburk, J.,  J. Stravinsky  &  S. Olsen.  2000.  Predation of Frankliniella occidentalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in field peppers by Orius insidiosus (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae).  Environmental Entomology 29:  376–382 .

 

Hernandez, H. G.,  R. M. Johansen,  L. G. Corona,  A. S. Castro,  E. E. Venegas,  F. D. de Anda  &  A. R. Valle de la Paz.  2000.  Plagas de aguacate.  In: Teliz, D. (Ed.), El Aguacate y su Manejo Integrado.  Ediciones Mundi-Prensa, Mexico D. F., pp. 117–136.

 

Hoddle, M. S. &  J. G. Morse.  1997.  Avocado thrips: a serious new pest of avocados in California.  California Avocado Society Yearbook 81:  81–90.

 

Hoddle, M. S.  &  J. G. Morse.  1998.  Avocado thrips update.  Citrograph 83:  3–7.

 

Hoddle, M. S.,  J. G. Morse,  P. Phillips &  B. Faber.  1998.  Progress on management of avocado thrips.  California Avocado Society Yearbook 82:  87–100.

 

Hoddle, M. S.,  J. G. Morse,  P. Phillips  &  B. Faber.  1999.  Avocado thrips update.  Citrograph 84:  13–14.

 

Jetter, K.  1999.  Case Studies: citrus canker; avocado thrips and mites.  In: Coppock, R. H. & Kreith, M. (Eds.),  Exotic Pests and Diseases:Biology, economics, Public Policy.  University of California Agricultural Issues Center, Davis, pp. 124–129.

 

Johansen, R. M. &  A. Mojica-Guzman.  1998.  The genus Scirtothrips Shull 1909 (Thysanoptera: Thripidae, Sericothripini).   In:  Folia Entomologica (Mexico) 104:  23–108.

 

Johansen, R. M.,  A. Mojica-Guzman & G. Ascencion-Betanzos.  1999.  Introduccion a conocimiento de los insectos nocivos Mexicanos, en el agucatero (Persea americana Miller).  Revista Chapingo Serie Horticultura  5:  279–295 .

 

Kopp, L. E.   1966.  A taxonomic revision of the genus Persea in the western hemisphere (Perseae—Lauraceae).   Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 14:  1–120.

 

Lewis, T.  1973.  Thrips, Their Biology, Ecology, and Economic Importance.  Academic Press, London.

 

Loomans, A. J. M., M. Tamotsu & I. D. Greene.  1997.  Interactions with hymenopterous parasitoids and parasitic nematodes. In: Lewis, T. (Ed.), Thrips as Crop Pests.   CAB International, Wallingford,  pp. 355–397.

 

McMurtry, J. A.  1992.  The role of exotic natural enemies in the biological control of insect and mite pests of avocado in California.  In:  Proceedings of the 2nd World Avocado Congress  pp. 247–252.

 

McMurtry ,J. A.,  H. G. Johnson  &  S. J. Newberger.  1991.  Imported parasite of greenhouse thrips established on California avocado.  California Agriculture 45:  31–32.

 

Memmott, J.,  S. V. Fowler  &  R. L. Hill.  1998.  The effect of release size on the probability of establishment of biological control agents: gorse thrips (Sericothrips staphylinus) released against gorse (Ulex europaeus) in New Zealand.  Biocontrol Science and Technology 8:  103–115.

 

Mhameed, S., D. Sharon, D. Kaufman, E. Lahav, J. Hillel, C. Degani  & U. Lavi.  1997.  Genetic relationships within avocado (Persea americana Mill) cultivars and between Persea species.  Theoretical and Applied Genetics 94:  279–286.

 

Morse, J. G.,  R. L. Metcalf,  M. L. Arpaia  &  R. E. Rice.  1995.  Risks of exotic pest introductions from importation of fresh Mexican Hass avocados into the United States: an analysis by the University of California Center for Exotic Pest Research of USDA-APHIS Proposed Rule 7 CFR part 319, Docket No. 94-116-3.  College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of California, Riverside.

 

Mound, L. A.  &  R. Marullo.  1996.  The Thrips of Central and South America: An Introduction (Insecta: Thysanoptera).  Associated Publishers, Gainesville, Florida.

 

Mound, L. A.  &  R. Zur Strassen.  2001.  The genus Scirtothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in Mexico: a critique of the review by Johansen & Mojica-Guzman (1998).  Folia Entomologica (Mexico)  40:  133–142.

 

Nakahara, S.  1995.  Taxonomic studies of the genus Tetraleurodes (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae).  Insecta Mundi 9:  105–150 .

 

Nakahara, S.  1997.  Scirtothrips perseae (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), a new species infesting avocado in southern California.  Insecta Mundi 11:  189–192 .

 

Phillips, P. A.  1997.  Managing greenhouse thrips in coastal avocados.  Subtropical Fruit News 5:  1–3.

 

Popenoe, F. O.  1915.  Varieties of the avocado.  Report of the First Semi-Annual Meeting of the California Avocado Commission, vol. 1:  44–69.

 

Rose, Mike & Paul DeBach.  1990.  Foreign exploration and importation of natural enemies.  In: Rosen, D. (Ed.), The Armored Scale Insects, Their Biology, Natural Enemies and Control, vol. B. Elsvier, Amsterdam, pp. 417–431.

 

Rose, Mike  & J. B. Woolley.  1984.  Previously imported parasite may control invading whitefly.  California Avocado Society Yearbook 68:  127–131.

 

Rosen, David & Paul DeBach.  1992.  Foreign exploration: the key to classical biological control.  Florida Entomologist 75:  409–413.

 

Sakimura, K. &  K. O’Neil.  1979.  Frankliniella, redefinition of genus and revision of minuta group species (Thysanoptera: Thripidae).  United States Dept. of Agriculture  Technical Bulletin 1572:  1–48.

 

Scora, R. W. & B. Bergh.  1990.  The origins and taxonomy of avocado (Persea americana) Mill. Lauraceae.  Acta Horticulturae 275:  387– 394.

 

Storey, W. B., B. Bergh, B & G. A. Zentmyer.  1986.  The origin, indigenous range, and dissemination of the avocado.  California Avocado Society Yearbook 70:  127–133.

 

 

FURTHER RELATED REFERENCES:

 

Triapitzin, S. V. & D. H. Headrick.  1995.  A review of the Nearctic species of the thrips-attacking genus Ceranisus Walker (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae).  Transactions of the American Entomological Society 121 (4):  227-248.

 

 Triapitzin, S. V. & J. G. Morse.  1999.  Survey of parasitoids of citrus thrips, Scirtothrips citri (Moulton), in southern California.

  Russian Entomological Journal 8 (1).