The economic status of Indian Thysanoptera

Abstract

In India the economic role played by insects of the order Thysanoptera, popularly known as " thrips," has not become so conspicuous as in some other parts of the world. The different kinds of thrips affecting specific crops such as wheat, oats, tobacco, fruits, onions, cacao and hot-house plants, in Europe, America, the West Indies and many tropical areas, are insects of established notoriety, and some of them cause severe and extensive damage to valuable crops from time to time ; but so far no species of Thysanoptera has as yet gained such prominence in India. Neither Lefroy in his book on " Indian Insect Pests " (1904), nor Fletcher in his publication on " South Indian Insects " (1914), has recorded any insect of this group as a definite pest among the numerous forms listed as injurious. In his other and more voluminous text-book, " Indian Insect Life " (1909), however, Lefroy, in the course of a brief chapter devoted to Thysanoptera, just refers to the three Indian species which were the only ones recorded till then, viz. : Idolothrips halidayi and Phloeothrips anacardii, described by Newman in 1856, and Panchaetothrips indicus, described by Bagnall in 1912 ; and only one of these, the last, had any economic importance, having been noted on turmeric in Madras.