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 dif f icult, 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).

Banana crops are attacked by several thrips species. The most common are Bradinothrips musae (Hood), Chaetanaphothrips leeuweni (Karny), Chaetanaphothrips orchidii (Moulton), Chaetanaphothrips signipennis (Bagnall), Elixothrips brevisetis (Bagnall), Frankliniella brevicaulis Hood, Frankliniella parvula Hood, Hercinothrips femoralis (Reuter) and Hoodothrips lineatus (Hood) (Lewis, 1997; Fancelli, 2004; Carval et al., 2015). Most of these are widespread, although Frankliniella spp., He. femoralis and Ho. lineatus seem to be native to the Neotropics, whereas the remaining species are probably native to the Oriental region (Hoddle et al., 2012; Mound & Tree, 2020; Lima, 2015).

In this work, we report Frankliniella tenuicornis (Uzel) as an additional thrips species damaging banana crops in Cyprus.

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(2003) and deposited in the Coleção de História Natural da Universidade Federal do Piauí, Floriano, PI, Brazil (CHNUFPI).

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)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.

Morphological traits. Body color brown (Fig. 1e). Antenna 8-segmented; Segments I-II and V-VII brown; IIIIV yellow; pedicel on segment III simple (Fig. 1f). Head slightly longer than wide, projected in front of eyes; three pairs of ocellar setae present; pair III anterior to lateral margin of ocellar triangle; postocular setae pair I present (Fig. 1h). Pronotum with five pairs of major setae; anteromarginal shorter than anteroangular (Fig. 1i). Metanotum with two pairs of setae at anterior margin; campaniform sensilla absent (Fig. 1j). Fore wing with two complete rows of setae (Fig. 1g). Abdominal tergites IV-VIII with paired ctenidia; teeth on posteromarginal comb on tergite VIII not developed (Fig. 1k).

Material examined. Cyprus: Paphos, Paphos District, on banana (Musa sp.) fruits, 27.ix.2013, 14 ♀ 2 larvae (Michael, C. col.) (Lima, E.F.B. det.) (CHNUFPI).

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