Abstract
Eight vegetable crops were sampled at five localities in Southeastern Nigeria and were found to harbour one or more species of thrips. The crops were Amaranthus hybridus, A. spinosus, Basella rubra, Solanum incanum, S. melongena, Hibiscus esculentus, Telfairia occidentalis and a species of Solanum. The sampled localities, with the frequency of occurrence of thrips, were Umuahia (29.6%), Owerri (28.5%), Port Harcourt (25.7%), Calabar (18.7%) and Enugu (6.0%). The studies revealed that crops with very heavy infloresences, e.g. Amaranthus hybridus, had a higher number of thrips (40%) per flower/leaf, while simple flowered crops like Telfairia occidentalis could only harbour a far lower number of thrips per flower/leaf. This showed a preference of these thrips for plants with heavy inflorescences which provided them with more protection, especially their larvae. Taxonomic/microscopic studies identified three species of thrips: Haplothrips gowdeyi that attacked 63% of all the sampled crops, Frankliniella schultzei was hosted by 50% of the crops, and Megalurothrips ventralis also preyed on 50% of the plant samples.  
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