Pest Information Guide: Eastern Flower Thrips Frankliniella tritici (Fitch)

The following Pest Identification Guides are intended for a wide audience. These fact sheets were created to help growers and crop consultants in industry, private homeowners, Master Gardeners, and the general public identify common arthropod pests and the damage they inflict. Each field guide provides photos of the important life stages and crop damage associated with these arthropod pests. The text highlights the pests' key general morphology and biology, distribution, and natural enemies (parasitoids and predators). Students, faculty in academia, and Extension agents may also find these guides very useful tools.

Several invasive species of thrips have established in Florida and become pests of vegetable, ornamental, and agronomic crops. Damage to crops results from thrips feeding and egg-laying injury, thrips vectoring plant diseases, the cost of using control tactics, and the loss of pesticides due to resistance.

The Department of Entomology and Nematology maintains tripartite priorities consistent with the mandate given to full-service landgrant universities and associated experiment stations: Research, Extension, and Academics. These programs are facilitated with state funding, extramural contract and grant funding, donations and gifts, and the collaborative efforts of cooperating agencies and institutions. The Department has coordinated faculty efforts and strengths into what could be considered major thrust areas for the Department. These areas of emphasis include: Behavior, Ecology, and Systematics; Biological Control; Medical, Veterinary and Urban Entomology; Nematology; Pest Management; and Physiology, Biochemistry, and Genetics.