Banana Rust Thrip

The Banana Rust Thrip (Chaetanaphothrips signipennis) adult is slender, 1.5 mm long, creamy yellow to golden brown with delicate feathery wings. The front margin of the wings is made up of a fringe of black hairs and, when at rest, these give the adult thrips a characteristic longitudinal black stripe down the middle of the abdomen. Two eye-like dark patches at the base of the wings are characteristic of adult rust thrips. These patches can be used to distinguish from the smaller males of the banana flower thrips. The main host is bananas, in which it is a major pest. Feeding by adult and nymphal stages causes the damage. The early symptoms appear as water-soaked smoky areas where the colonies congregate to feed and oviposit between touching or adjacent fruit. These areas then develop the typical rusty-red to dark brown-black discolouration.