common name: redbanded thrips
scientific name: Selenothrips rubrocinctus (Giard) (Insects: Thysanoptera: Thripidae)
Selenothrips rubrocinctus, the redbanded thrips, was first described from Guadeloupe, West Indies, where it was causing considerable damage to cacao. As a result, it was referred to as the cacao thrips. The earliest report relating to this thrips was a report by W.E. Broadway in 1898, when he called attention
to the "blight" of cacao.
Physopus rubrocinctus Giard (1901)
The redbanded thrips is a tropical-subtropical species and is found in the following areas:
- Asia -- China, Taiwan, Malaya and the Philippine Islands;
- Africa -- Fernando, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Principe, Democratic Republic of the Congo, San Thome, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda;
- Australasia and Pacific Islands -- Hawaiian Islands, Mariana Islands, New Caledonia, Papua, New Guinea, and Solomon Islands;
- North America -- Florida, Mexico;
- Central America -- Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama;
- West Indies;
- South America -- Brazil, Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
In Florida, it is found from Key West to Macclenny, but more generally it is found from the Orlando area south.
The female is about 1.20 mm in length and has a dark brown to black body underlain by red
pigment chiefly in the first 3 abdominal segments; the anal segments retain a reddish black
color, and the wings are dark. The male is similar, but smaller and is seldom collected. The
larva is light yellow to orange with abdominal segments 1 and 2 and anal segments bright red.
The nymph and pupa are light yellow to orange with the first three and last segments of the
abdomen bright red. The life cycle is completed in Florida in about three weeks, and there are
several generations a year.
redbanded thrips adult
redbanded thrips larva
adult
The redbanded thrips is a pest of many plants. The locality and its flora usually determine the
more prevalent hosts. In the West Indies, it has been a serious pest of cacao and mango. The
species of tropical fruit trees, ornamentals and shade trees that it attacks are too numerous to
list here. The favorite tropical fruit hosts in Florida are mango and avocado. Recently, it was also a problem in sweetgum trees in central Florida.
The larvae and adults feed on the foliage and the fruit by piercing the epidermis with their
mouthparts. Redbanded thrips prefer young foliage and their feeding and causes leaf distortion
and leaf drop. The thrips destroys the cells on which it feeds, causes some leaf distortion,
injury to the fruit, and leaves unsightly dark colored droplets or blotches of excrement on the
leaf surface. A more serious injury is leaf drop, which may denude trees. Honeydew
excretory products from red-banded thrips and other insect infestations fall to leaves, fruits or
objects beneath, giving rise to the objectionable fruit-degrading, black sooty mold.
typical damage
Chemical controls are not always necessary for this thrips, as natural controls are apparently
effective most of the time. However, if chemical control is required, consult the following:
Insect Management Guide for ornamentals
Insect Management Guide for fruit
- Fasulo TR, Kern W, Koehler PG, Short DE. (2005). Pests In and Around the Home. Version 2.0. University of Florida/IFAS. CD-ROM. SW 126.
- Fennah RG. 1965. The influence of environmental stress on the cacao tree in
predetermining the feeding sites of cacao thrips, Selenothrips rubrocinctus (Giard), on
leaves and pods. Bulletin of Entomological Research 56: 333.
- Funderburk J, Stavisky J, Olson S, Momol T. (2000). Thrips biology and management. http://thrips.ifas.ufl.edu/Background.htm (18 August 2004).
- Giard A. 1901. Sur un thrips (Physopus rubrocinctus nov. sp.) nuisible au cacaoyer.
Bulletin de la Societe Entomologique de France 15: 263-265.
- Hecht O. 1952. "Nota acerca de Selenothrips rubrocinctus Giard, playa del cacaotero," Fitofilo San Jacinto, D.F., Mexico. An. 6, N. 5: 33-42.
- Mizell RF, Fasulo TR, Short DE. (2002). WoodyBug: pest and beneficial arthropods of southeastern U.S. woody ornamentals. University of Florida/IFAS. CD-ROM. SW 119.
- Reyne A. 1921. De cacaothrips (Heliothrips rubrocinctus Giard). Suriname Dept. v.d. Landbouw Bull. 44. 214 p.
- Russell HM. 1912. The red-banded thrips. Papers on insects injurious to citrus and other subtropical fruits. USDA Bureau of Entomology Bulletin 99: 17-29.
Authors: H.A. Denmark and D.O. Wolfenbarger, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services, Division of Plant Industry.
Originally published as DPI Entomology Circular 108.
Photographs: Division of Plant Industry and University of Florida
Project Coordinator: Thomas R. Fasulo, University of Florida
Publication Number: EENY-99
Publication Date: July 1999. Latest revision: June 2007.
Copyright 1999-2007 University of Florida
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