Banana silvering thrips
Hercinothrips bicinctus
Description of adult: Banana-silvering thrips are small (1.5 mm long), slender, brown insects with a darker abdomen and pale yellow hind wings that appear as a yellow line down the back of the body when the insect is at rest. Adult thrips have characteristic wings; the transparent wings have a fringe of hairs around the outside edge standing out in the same plane as the wing.
Host range: Bananas, chokos, passionfruit and a number of weed species.
Damage: Minor and infrequent. Feeding by these thrips causes silver speckling of green fruit that, on close inspection, can be seen to be speckled with dark excrement. In some instances browning of fruit may occur and deep longitudinal cracks may appear as a result.
