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Florida Focus
June, 2009

Beneficial bug finds ally against flower thrips

Photo courtesy of the Agricultural Research Service

The common minute pirate bug feeds on a host of plant pests.

Thrips may have met their match in not just one but two minute pirate bug species.

Originally, researchers thought the minute pirate bug worked alone.

Now they've identified a closely related species that works alongside its cousin to control Florida flower thrips, according to a news release.

Known scientifically as Orius insidiosus, the quarter-inch-long minute pirate bug is used commercially as biological control on a host of pests.

Little was known about its close relative, O. pumilio. Even its range was unknown until Agricultural Research Service scientists found it in Alachua County hunting Florida flower thrips on an organic farm.

Until now, they'd only seen it in south Florida, says entomologist Jeff Shapiro with the service's Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology in Gainesville.

They plan to study the newly identified beneficial further to learn of its life habits and possible ways to increase its populations.