Bean Flower Thrips Megalurothrips usitatus (Bagnall) (Insecta: Thysanoptera: Thripidae)

Abstract

The Featured Creatures collection provides in-depth profiles of insects, nematodes, arachnids and other organisms relevant to Florida. These profiles are intended for the use of interested laypersons with some knowledge of biology as well as academic audiences. Megalurothrips usitatus (Bagnall, 1913) is a small sized (3-4 mm) insect in the order Thysanoptera and family Thripidae, commonly known as bean flower thrips, oriental bean thrips, and Asian bean thrips. It is an important economic pest of legumes. Megalurothrips usitatus was first reported in the USA in Florida in 2020 (Soto-Adames, F. N. 2020).

First Report of the Exotic Species Megalurothrips usitatus (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), Pest of Fabaceae, in Puerto Rico

“…But in males the posterior margin of tergite X is usually with a pair of short stout setae laterally (Mound 1968) All members of the genus Megalurothrips mainly mate and develop in the flowers of tropical Fabaceae, and some are pests of cultivated legumes (Palmer 1987;Masumoto 2010). This invasive pest is native to Asia and is widely distributed in the following countries: Australia, China, Japan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Fiji (Tang et al 2015;Khan et al 2022). This thrips recently arrived on the American continent, reported in 2020 in the United States (Soto-Adames 2020) and in western Cuba (Ruiz 2020).…”