TITLE:
Developmental and Reproductive Performance of the Tobacco Thrips, Frankliniella fusca (Hinds) (Insecta: Thysanoptera), on Leaves of Nicotiana spp.
AUTHORS:
Shiro Nakao, Chisako Chikamori
KEYWORDS:
Tobacco, Thrips, Groundnut, Green Bean, Fecundity, Survival Rate
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.5 No.6,
May
27,
2014
ABSTRACT: Tobacco thrips, Frankliniella fusca, which is a vector of Tospovirus, is a serious pest of tobacco, peanuts, and cotton in the United States. It was said that immigration of the adult thrips from weed hosts into crop fields is a cause of TSWV epidemy in the field. Recently this pest thrips was introduced into Japan. We investigated survival rate, developmental time, and fecundity of a Japanese strain of F. fusca on leaves of tobacco, peanut, and green bean at 18°C. Thrips could not complete larval development on 3 Nicotiana species, N. tabacum, N. gossei, and N. rustica. On the other hand, survival rate from hatching to adult emergence on peanut and green bean is 78% and 86%, respectively. A female adult thrips lived during about 25 days and deposited 101 eggs on green bean, but died within 10 days without ovipositing on Nicotiana spp. The tobacco is not a reproductive host plant that permits tobacco thrips to propagate, but an adult food source that is susceptible of TSWV.