Brazilian Peppertree Thrips Pseudophilothrips ichini (Hood) (Insecta: Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae)

Abstract

The Brazilian peppertree thrips, Pseudophilothrips ichini (Hood) (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae), is an insect native to Brazil (Figure 1). This species has been studied for the last 20+ years as a potential biological control agent of Brazilian peppertree, Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi (Sapindales: Anacardiaceae), in Florida (Cuda et al. 2008; Cuda et al. 2008; Manrique at al. 2014; Wheeler et al. 2016a, b). Host specificity experiments demonstrated that Pseudophilothrips ichini has a limited host range (Cuda et al. 2008; Cuda et al. 2009; Wheeler et al. 2017) and can cause a severe reduction of Brazilian peppertree biomass (Manrique at al. 2014).https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in1270

Aquatic ecosystem restoration in the Texas Western Gulf Coast Plain / Lower Rio Grande alluvial floodplain ecoregion : Resaca Boulevard Resaca Section 206—vegetation community adaptive management

“…The thrips naturally occur throughout the native range of Brazilian peppertree and has undergone extensive dietary host range studies in quarantine to ensure safety to beneficial native plant species. Studies have shown that Brazilian peppertree thrips selectively choose the Brazilian peppertree as their primary host and are effective at reducing growth rates, height, and number of green stems (Prade et al 2019). ERDC, BPUB, and other collaborators are evaluating the use of these thrips in the RBR restoration project as an adaptive management O&M strategy as well as analogous future projects in similarly infested resaca systems.…”