Thrips species associated with varieties of the native cerrado fruit tree Hancornia speciosa

Abstract

Studies of insects associated with the fruit tree Hancornia speciosa Gomes (Apocynaceae), a native of the Brazilian Cerrado popularly known as “mangabeira”, are generally restricted to reports from seedling nurseries. Thrips predominate among insects that attack this crop. This study investigated the species of Thysanoptera that use this native fruit as a host, and which variety they prefer. The H. speciosa varieties speciosa s.str., cuyabensis, gardneri and pubescens were obtained from the collections of the ex-situ germplasm bank of native species at the Escola de Agronomia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil. Evaluations were conducted from January through December 2016. A total of 1679 individual thrips were identified. Thrips were most abundant on pubescens (79.08%), followed by gardneri (15.02%), cuyabensis (4.71%), and speciosa (1.19%). Representatives of the family Thripidae predominated in all collections, especially Coremothrips nubiculus and Heliothrips longisensibilis. The foliar trichomes present in var. pubescens may account for the high abundance of thrips on this variety. Heliothrips longisensibilis is recorded in Brazil for the first time.