THE RED-BANDED THRIPS. 19 



This account of the history of the led-bandod thiips takes up 

 only the more important notices that this insect has received. For 

 further information see the bibhography (p. 28) or the article by 

 Urich='^ published in 1911. 



RECENT RECORDS. 



On March 28, 1900, specimens of the larva, pupa, and adult of this 

 insect were received by this bureau from ]Mr. D. Morris, of Barbados 

 Island. He stated that they were collected in Dominica on cacao. 

 On October 5, 1900, another lot, from Grenada, British West Indies, 

 was received fi-om Mr. Morris, Mr, P. J, Wester, formerly of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, during the winter of 1908 sent to the 

 Bureau of Entomology, from Miami, Fla., several lots of mango leaves 

 badly injured by Heliothrips ruhrocindus Giard and Heliothrips hsem- 

 orrhoidalis Bouche, working together. He wrote that previous to 

 that time they had not seemed to cause much damage. The writer, 

 during January and February, 1909, found these two insects at 

 Miami, Fla,, worldng together in large numbers on the leaves of 

 the mango and the avocado, Mr. Edward Simmonds, on Novem- 

 ber 1, 1911, sent a number of mango leaves from Miami, Fla., that 

 were quite badly infested. 



August 6, 1912, Mr. H. L. Sanford collected specimens of the 

 adult, larva, and pupa, in the greenhouses of the Department of 

 Agriculture, at Washington, D, C. The insects were seriously attack- 

 ing mango plants received from the island of Mauritius, 



NATURE AND EXTENT OF INJURY. 



Injury by the red-banded thrips is similar to that of the greenhouse 

 thrips (Heliothrips lisemorrhoidalis Bouche)" and of the bean thiips 

 {lleliotJirips fasciatus Pergande),'' and is likewise caused by the man- 

 ner in which these insects obtain their food. The present thrips is 

 treated here as an enemy to the mango and avocado (alligator pear) 

 only, as cacao is not at present of importance as a crop in this country. 

 The adults and larvae feed together on the same foliage and injin-e 

 this in the same way. The epidermis is first pierced by the shai-p 

 mouthparts and then the leaf tissue within is rasped or scraped out, 

 leaving a minute spot where the chlorophyll or gi'cen content of the 

 leaf has been removed. This spot becomes brown. These spots 

 become very abundant and after a while run together, forming large 

 brown patches near the main or side veins, the leaves later turning 

 brown and drying up. In severe cases the entire leaf surface is 



a For description of injury l>y the gipenhoiisc thrips see lUil. (it. I't. VI. Bur. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., 

 p. 44, 1909; also Cir. 151, Bur. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., 1912. 

 b For description of injury by the bean thrips see Bui. 118, Bur. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., 1912. 



