First report of thrips (Thysanoptera) species breeding on starfruit (Averrhoa carambola L.) and potential implications to cryptic flower loss

Despite centuries of starfruit cultivation, thrips dwelling in this economically important crop remain overlooked. To address this gap, we quantified the composition of adults and larvae from the inflorescences of Malaysian starfruit cv. B10. We sampled thrips populations from one monitoring farm and five additional single-visited farms across Peninsular Malaysia to test for consistent prevalence. We employed mtDNA COI gene sequencing to match adults to larvae, which allowed us to test the hypothesis that the prevalent thrips populations breeding on starfruit flowers. While Scirtothrips dorsalis, Thrips hawaiiensis, and Haplothrips ceylonicus were also identified breeding on starfruit flowers, Thrips levatus and Megalurothrips typicus emerged as the most prevalent. Larvae dominated at the monitoring farm (> 60%), mirroring the prevalence of T. levatus (≈ 85%) and M. typicus (≈ 14%) in adults. Somewhat similar trends were observed across other farms (adults: ≈ 26–62%, larvae: ≈ 38–70%). Notably, T. levatus was consistently the dominant population (≈ 70–99%). The presence of M. typicus was negligible at certain farms, but both species demonstrated starfruit flowers as a viable breeding host based on adult–larvae matching. We propose that the high prevalence of thrips, particularly larvae, poses a potential threat to starfruit production via cryptic flower loss. Our findings suggest that thrips, alongside other pests, should be considered a target taxon in pest management regimes to mitigate flower abscission implicated in their rasping-sucking behavior. This study provides the first baseline data on the thrips compositional status concerning starfruit, paving the way for further research to mitigate their impact.