Identification and description of species of the genus Thrips associated with weed species occurring in the region of Zaghouan (North-Eastern Tunisia)

Abstract

This study aims to identify thrips species belonging to the genus Thrips occurring on weed species which harbor thrips when crops are absent. An inventory of thrips species was carried out during three consecutive years (2019, 2020 and 2021) in eleven locations in the governorate of Zaghouan (North-Eastern Tunisia). Seven thrips species belonging to the genus Thrips were identified: Thrips tabaci Lindemann (1888), T. angusticeps Uzel (1895), T. fuscipennis Haliday (1836), T. australis Bagnall (1915), T. meridionalis Priesner (1926), T. palmi Karny (1925) and T. imaginis Bagnall (1926). The most abundant and dominant thrips species was T. tabaci considered as eudominant species with 81.7%, followed by T. angusticeps and T. fuscipennis. The rest of identified species were classified as precedent. Regarding weeds, 31 species were identified (84% dicotyledonous and 16% monocotyledonous) belonging to 16 botanical families. The most represented families were Asteraceae (22%) followed by Poaceae (16%) and Fabaceae (13%). Among these 31 weeds, only 26 species were confirmed as hosts for thrips. Systematic and morphological description of thrips species are given in this paper.