Scientist University of Florida Homestead, Florida
Melon thrips is an invasive insect pest of various vegetable crops in the South Florida. This thrips arrived in 1990 and invaded various vegetable crops in the Miami-Dade Country. Larval feeding defoliated beans, squash, eggplants and other vegetable crops. Thrips infestation starts every year in October which is the beginning of vegetable season, and continues through June. In the first couple of years of invasion, mean number of thrips/10-leaf sample was 2,500, 1,700 and 1,500 for eggplant, squash and bean, respectively. Population abundance was peak in March and April, irrespective of crops. The younger leaves at the tip of a plant were more attractive than older leaves. Population of melon thrips were always occur on the abaxial surface of a leaf. Very few larvae were observed on the adaxial surface of a leaf. Melon thrips distribution in a field was aggregated based on Taylor's power law and iwao's patchiness regression when sampling was conducted usisng flowers and leaves.
