DISTRIBUTION OF THE CHILLI THRIPS, SCIRTOTHRIPS DORSALIS HOOD (THYSANOPTERA: THRIPIDAE), IN PEPPER FIELDS ON ST. VINCENT.

Chili thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood, is a newly introduced pest in the western hemisphere. It has the potential to cause significant damage to various vegetable, ornamental and fruit crops. Baseline information about its biology and management is very insufficient. Due to the paucity of knowledge about this pest we initiated a study on its biology and management. We conducted several studies to understand distribution pattern of S. dorsalis within the plant and within fields of Scotch Bonnet' pepper in St. Vincent in 2004 and 2005. S. dorsalis adults and larvae were most abundant on terminal leaves of a ' Scotch Bonnet' pepper plant followed by middle leaves, lower leaves, and reproductive parts. The distribution of both adults and larvae of S. dorsalis on the terminal leaves was aggregated irrespective of plot size (6, 12, 24 and 48 m2). Detailed information on distribution has been reported in a manuscript submitted to Florida Entomologist