Appl. Entomol. Zool. 44 (3): 455–464 (2009) http://odokon.org/ An analysis of Thysanoptera associated with citrus flowers in Antalya, Turkey: Composition, distribution, abundance and pest status of species I˙lyas TEKS¸AM1 and Irfan˙ TUNC¸ 2,* 1 Batı Akdeniz Agricultural Research Institute (BATEM); Antalya, Turkey 2 Akdeniz University, Faculty of Agriculture, Plant Protection Department; Antalya, Turkey (Received 28 November 2008; Accepted 3 April 2009) Abstract Composition, distribution, abundance and pest status of thrips species associated with citrus flowers in Antalya, Turkey was investigated in 2006 and 2007. The survey revealed 36 thrips species. The most common and abundant species in descending order were: Thrips major Uzel, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), T. tabaci Lindeman, T. meridionalis (Priesner), T. angusticeps Uzel and Pezothrips kellyanus (Bagnall) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). The thrips fauna was predominated by T. major being found in 84% of the samples and constituting 51% of the specimens. F. occidentalis was the second most common and abundant species which was present in 55% of the samples and rep- resenting 22% of the specimens. The other four major species were detected in 12–28% of the samples and had a share of 4–6% in the total number of specimens. Average number of thrips per flower ranged between 0.26 and 0.55 depending on the citrus species. Proportion of scarred fruits ranged between 0.8 to 2.4%. Only P. kellyanus is known as a citrus pest and currently is less common and abundant than in those countries where it causes crop losses. These findings in Turkey do not provide any clear evidence concerning the country of origin of P. kellyanus. Key words: Thrips; citrus; Turkey; Pezothrips kellyanus; Thrips major (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) which causes discol- INTRODUCTION oration of rind was also reported as an occasional Citrus is attacked by a number of thrips species pest of citrus along with the species mentioned in in different parts of the world. Depending on the California, Florida, Australia, New Zealand and species thrips feed on flowers, fruits and leaves of some Mediterrranean countries. citrus. The most common damage is, however, in- In Turkey until recently thrips have not been flicted in the form of scabby, grayish or silvery considered pests of citrus as no visible damage at- scars on the rind which results in a fruit of lower tributed to them has been reported. This may have market grade and value (Parker and Skinner, 1997). been due to the species composition which lacked Major thrips pests of citrus leading to such blem- those known as citrus pests and/or the inadequate ishes are citrus thrips Scirtothrips citri (Moulton) abundance of the existing species. The first data on in California (Anonymous, 1984), South African citrus thrips fauna in Turkey did not appear until citrus thrips Scirtothrips aurantii Faure in South 1988–1990, as a part of a study aiming to discover Africa (Grov’e et al., 2000), yellow tea thrips Scir- the Thysanoptera fauna of Antalya province (Tunç, tothrips dorsalis Hood in East Asia (Masui, 2007) 1991a, b, 1992a, b, c). Afterwards specimens col- and Kelly’s citrus thrips Pezothrips kellyanus (Bag- lected incidentally by different investigators on the nall) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in Australia (Web- suspicion of thrips damage in major citrus growing ster et al., 2006), New Zealand (Froud et al., 2001) areas were processed. The indigenous species, and in two Mediterranean islands Sicily (Marullo, Thrips major Uzel, T. meridionalis (Priesner), 1998) and Cyprus (Vassiliou, 2007). The green- T. tabaci Lindeman and T. angusticeps Uzel house thrips Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis Bouche (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), were the most common *To whom correspondence should be addressed at: E-mail: [email protected] DOI: 10.1303/aez.2009.455 455 456 Thysanoptera Associated with Citrus Fig. 1. The map of districts of Antalya province. The place of the province in Turkey is indicated by the black area in the in- serted map at the bottom. thrips inhabitants of citrus in Turkey until the intro- plant, pepper and tomato), and cereals (including duced western flower thrips, Frankliniella occiden- corn) are grown in almost all districts surveyed. talis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), and However larger areas are allocated for citrus in also P. kellyanus were first noticed on citrus in this central district, Demre, Finike and Kumluca, and country in 2002 and 2003. for greenhouse crops in Demre and Kumluca (Fig. The present study was undertaken to gain a fresh 1). Alanya is a major banana district and this crop insight into the thrips fauna on citrus of Antalya, can be cultivated only there and in Gazipas¸a. Cot- and to address the increasing complaints about ton is grown mainly in Serik, however the area scars on citrus fruits that have been attributed to used for the crop in Manavgat also is not negligi- thrips. Such surveys are important to gather first ble. Cereals and legumes are produced in relatively hand information on the pest situation in orchards, larger areas in the two latter districts. Other impor- and to establish a basis for rejecting the tendency tant crops are loquat in Alanya, Gazipas¸a and Man- towards unnecessary sprays based on unfounded avgat, and are greenhouse grown strawberry and and/or exaggerated claims of crop losses. A partic- cutflowers (mainly carnation, rose, Gerbera and ular objective of the study was to clarify the status Gypsophylla) in Gazipas¸a and Serik, respectively. of two important thrips pests, F. occidentalis, a Orange is the major citrus crop (mainly Navel, worldwide pest of greenhouse and other crops, and Valencia and some local varieties) in all districts P. kellyanus, a serious pest of citrus in many coun- and is followed at a far distance by lemon and tries including those in EPPO (European and mandarin which is reflected in the number of sam- Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization) re- ples taken in both years (Table 1). Grapefruit or- gion (EPPO, 2005). The composition, distribution chards are much less frequent and exist mainly in and abundance of the thrips species on various cit- Alanya, central district and Serik. Sour orange, in rus species in districts of Antalya was analysed. general, is grown as an ornamental plant along The potential of these species to pose a commercial roadsides, in recreational areas and backyards, and threat was evaluated, and the significance of the may sparsely be distributed as single plants in cit- findings concerning the area of origin of P. rus orchards. kellyanus was also considered. Sampling and laboratory processing of speci- mens. Samples were collected during the flowering period, from March to May 2006–2007, from citrus MATERIALS AND METHODS orchards in the central and other districts of An- Crop pattern in districts. Citrus, pomegranate, talya province, e.g., Alanya, Demre, Finike, Gazi- greenhouse vegetables (mainly cucumber, egg- pas¸a, Kemer, Kumluca, Manavgat and Serik. The I˙. TEKS¸AM and I.˙ TUNC¸ 457 Table1. Number of samples collected in each district, citrus species and year Number of samples per citrus species and per year Total District Grapefruit Lemon Mandarin Orange Sour orange 2006 2007 2006 2007 2006 2007 2006 2007 2006 2007 2006 2007 Gazipas¸a — — 3— 1— 1131 — — 15 31 Alanya — 2 4 18 1 — 28 71 — — 33 91 Manavgat — — 4 5 8 9 33 56 — — 45 70 Serik — 8 — 25 — 1 10 16 — 11 10 61 Central 3 12 5 13 4 — 35 30 — — 47 55 Kemer — — — — — — 5 — — — 5 — Kumluca — — 1 1 — — 26 15 — — 27 16 Finike — — — 7 1 — 14 47 — — 15 54 Demre — — 3 — — — 9 22 — — 12 22 Total 3 22 20 69 15 10 171 288 0 11 209 400 citrus species sampled were sour orange Citrus au- flowers or flower buds in 67 citrus orchards from rantium L., lemon Citrus limon (L.) Burm., grape- all districts mentioned except Kemer in 2007. fruit Citrus paradise (Macfadyen), mandarin Cit- Flower samples were put into polyethylene bags rus reticulata (Blanco) and orange Citrus sinensis containing paper sheets to absorb excess moisture, (L.) Osbeck (Rutaceae). Influorescences at four di- transported in ice-boxes to the laboratory, and re- rections of randomly selected trees were beaten on tained in a refrigerator for subsequent thrips extrac- a white tray measuring 20ϫ30ϫ8 cm. The number tion and examination. of the trees selected for each sample varied be- Percentage of scarred fruits. About 1,000 tween 1–5 depending on the thrips load in flowers. young fruits at four directions of trees selected ran- Thrips were collected with a fine paint brush into domly from 13 orchards were examined for scars 8 small glass vials containing a mixture of 9 parts weeks after petal fall in 2007. All kinds of scars in- 60% ethyl alcohol with 1 part glacial acetic acid. cluding those which are likely caused by wind were Counting and identification was carried out under a counted (Fig. 2). Scars caused by thrips (Fig. 3) are stereomicroscope, and representative specimens ring shaped around stem end of the fruit and some- were prepared for slide mounting by clearing in a times may extend downwards along the sides of the lactophenol mixture (a 1 : 1 mixture of lactic acid fruit (Broughton and De Lima, 2002). and phenol on weight basis) and mounting in Hoyer’s medium. A total of 10,713 thrips speci- RESULTS mens from 609 samples were examined. District and host index. To analyse distribution Composition, distribution and abundance of pattern of a given thrips species in the districts or species on citrus species a simple district or host index was A total of 36 thrips species were recorded (Table used. District and host indices were calculated as 2). The species found are listed with their fre- follows: quency (total number of samples where a given District indexϭtotal number of individuals of a species was present) and abundance (total number given thrips species in the district/total number of individuals collected for a given species).