Thrips species occurring in red raspberry, Rubus idaeus L., in South Norway

Aim of study: Thrips in raspberry crops are receiving attention in Scandinavian raspberry production because of the increasing sighting of their presence in the flowers. Specific information on thrips species occurring in raspberry and their damage potential is scarce, making thrips management challenging. Therefore, this study aimed to identify thrips in the flowers of cultivated raspberry, Rubus idaeus L., in South Norway. Area of study: Sogndal, Luster and Frogn, Southern Norway Material and methods: Adult thrips were sampled from eight commercial raspberry orchards in the counties Vestland and Viken in June-July 2022. Thrips were mounted using Hoyer’s medium and a total of 213 specimens were morphologically identified. Main results: Five species of thrips were found, Thrips fuscipennis Haliday, Thrips major Uzel, Thrips flavus Schrank, Thrips vulgatissimus Haliday and Thrips brevicornis Priesner. Most specimens were T. flavus, followed by T. fuscipennis and T. vulgatissimus. Research highlights: Among the five species found, only T. fuscipennis has previously been reported in cultivated raspberry, but all five species are associated with flowers of many plants. The findings imply a larger and more geographically varied thrips fauna on raspberry than currently documented. This should be taken into account in future studies on thrips management in raspberry.