Seasonal prevalence of the occurrence of Haplothrips nigricornis Bagnall on Asteraceous plants

Haplothrips nigricornis Bagnall was found in a few species of Asteraceous weeds in Kyoto, Osaka, Wakayama, and Hyogo prefecture in Japan in 2019; however, little detail is known about its biology. We investigated the population of H. nigricornis and its seasonal occurrence by conducting a field survey in Osaka. Additionally, we investigated its feeding habits and destructive potential. We found 1 genus of Phlaeothripidae and 6 genera of Thripidae; the greatest number of H. nigricornis were collected from the inflorescence of Senecio madagascariensis. The seasonal prevalence of the occurrence of H. nigricornis appeared to be correlated with the blooming of S. madagascariensis. In comparison to other Thripidae species, it appears that this species may not be a strong flyer and, therefore, not particularly mobile. Consequently, H. nigricornis was thought to live mainly on S. madagascariensis and is not necessarily able to complete its lifecycle on other Asteraceous plants. Furthermore, we did not observe that this species caused obvious damage to any of the investigated plants (23 species in 6 families).