Abstract
IN an earlier paper1 attention was directed to the fact that thrips have remarkably few effective natural enemies. Syrphidae were mentioned as predators; but the thrips-feeding habit seems to be very rare in these insects, the larvæ of most of the entomophagous forms feeding on aphids and other Homoptera. Some Syrphid larvæ, however, are known to prey on other insects, such as caterpillars; but there seem to be scarcely any records of species feeding on thrips. Where thrips are rather inactive and congregated in numbers on leaves or in galls, they would seem to be more liable to attack by predators such as Syrphid larvæ.
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References
Callan, E. McC., Bull. Ent. Res., 34, 313 (1943).
Jacot-Guillarmod, C. F., J. Ent. Soc. S. Afr., 2, 37 (1939).
Bezzi, M., Brit. Mus. Pub., 35 (1915).
Stuckenberg, B. R., J. Ent. Soc. S. Afr., 17, 58 (1954).
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CALLAN, E. Larvæ of Sphaerophoria as Predators on Thrips in South Africa. Nature 175, 345 (1955). https://doi.org/10.1038/175345a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/175345a0
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