Short Communication: Frankliniella tenuicornis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), a novel harmful insect to banana (Musa sp.) crops

Aim of study: This study aimed to record a previously unknown harmful insect to banana (Musa sp.) crops, Frankliniella tenuicornis (Uzel).Area of study: Thrips individuals were collected from banana fields located in Paphos District, Cyprus.Material and methods: Specimens of thrips were mounted in permanent microscope and identified using specialized literature. Voucher specimens are deposited in Coleção de História Natural da UFPI, Brazil. Images for species and damage recognition were obtained.Main results: The thrips causes a red-brownish discoloration at the spots where banana fruits touch each other. This cosmetic damage reduces the marketability and/or price of banana fruits. In addition, F. tenuicornis is recorded for the first time in the island of Cyprus.Research highlights: This is the first record of F. tenuicornis damaging banana crops. It constitutes the basic step for future studies in order to produce possible suitable control methods against the new phytosanitary problem.


Introduction
Thrips are among the most important pests of banana crops (Musa spp.), one of the most consumed fruits in the world. These insects cause qualitative damages resulting from feeding and/or oviposition in plant tissue, especially in banana rinds, which depreciates the fruits for commercialization (Lewis, 1997;Lima, 2015).
These problems appear due to thrips small size and cryptic habits, which makes their control sometimes difficult, as they easily hide between leaves or fruits and escape from chemicals. To prevent colonization, growers usually eliminate old plants with high infestations in order to reduce the thrips population (Rey, 2002) or use untreated plastic bags to cover bunches before harvesting (Hawaiian Banana Industry, 2010).
In this work, we report Frankliniella tenuicornis (Uzel) as an additional thrips species damaging banana crops in Cyprus.

Material and methods
The specimens studied to perform the record were collected in Paphos, Cyprus (at sea level) and mounted on permanent microscope slides, following Mound & Marullo (1996). They were identified based on Zur Strassen

Results and discussion
Individuals of F. tenuicornis, feeding on the fruit tissue, were causing a red-brownish discoloration especially at spots where the two fruits were in contact in bunches of bananas (Figs 1a-d). Although no major damage was observed on the fruit pulp, the qualitative damage, often observed in the sampled area, reduced significantly the marketability and/or the price of the product. Similar injury on the fruit rind is caused by other thrips species that were not found on the study area, such as B. musae (Monteiro et al., 1999), C. signipennis (Hara et al., 2002), E. brevisetis (Lima & Milanez, 2013) and He. femoralis (Roditakis et al., 2006). This is the first report of damages caused by F. tenuicornis on banana crops. In the Americas, other Frankliniella species, such as F. brevicaulis, F. fulvipennis Moulton, F. musaeperda Hood and F. parvula, are reported as pests of banana (Hood, 1952;Harrisson, 1963;Mound & Marullo, 1996;Mound & Kibby, 1998;Monteiro et al., 2001). In addition, it is the first record of F. tenuicornis in Cyprus.
Frankliniella tenuicornis is widespread in the northern hemisphere from the US to Japan and likely native to Europe (Hoddle et al., 2012;Wang et al., 2019). The species is known to cause damage to some crops, especially cereals, but in most cases, plants can tolerate thrips populations (Larsson, 2005). In Central Europe, it is an economically important species, causing considerable yield loss in small grain cereals (Obrist et al., 2005). On millet (Panicum miliaceum), the thrips causes whitening of inflorescences with consequent shrunken of the grains; on oats (Avena sativa), rye (Secale cereale) Figure 1. Morphology of Frankliniella tenuicornis and damage caused on banana. a) bunch of bananas with symptoms of attack; b) symptoms on green fruits; c, d) damage on the fruit rind on mature fruits; e) female of F. tenuicornis; f) antenna; g) fore wing; h) head; i) pronotum; j) mesoand metanotum; k) abdominal tergites VIII and IX. and wheat (Triticum sativum), it causes silvering of leaf sheaths and blades, leaving oviposition scars on blades, resulting in the appearance of ears with whitened spikelets, either empty or with shriveled grains (Lewis, 1997). Köppä (1970) reported heavy damage on barley (Hordeum vulgare). Corn, cattail, grasses, tomato and onion are other host plants of this thrips (Wang et al., 2010). It is also reported as vector of Tomato spotted wilt virus (Souiri et al., 2020).
Along with Frankliniella fusca (Hinds), Frankliniella intsonsa (Trybom) and Frankliniella schultzei (Trybom), F. tenuicornis is one of the brown-colored species of the genus commonly found in cultivated plants in Europe and the Mediterranean region, but can be distinguished by the anteriorly projected head (Zur Strassen, 2003). In addition, it distinguishes from F. fusca by the absence of campaniform sensilla on metanotum; from F. schultzei by the ocellar setae on lateral margins of ocellar triangle (between posterior ocelli in F. schultzei); and from F. intonsa by the absence of teeth on posteromarginal comb on abdominal tergite VIII.