Leaves in which females oviposited were kept on saturated foam rubber pads in stainless steel trays in temperature cabinets at 25 o C and 30 o C. Leaves were checked daily for egg hatch and numbers of emerging thrips were recorded. Newly emerged first instar thrips were then isolated individually on young avocado leaves in plexiglass Munger cells and developmental stages determined daily until adulthood. Isolated adult male and female thrips were transferred to fresh avocado leaves and monitored daily for longevity. Daily fecundity of mated and unmated female thrips reared from eggs at 25 o C was determined by moving females to fresh leaves every 24 hrs and previously exposed leaves were held at 25 o C, and monitored daily for emergence of first instar larvae. The developmental biology of avocado thrips has been determined at 25 o C and 30 o C and is presented in Table 1.
C is still in progress.
C. All means are presented with standard errors. To determine the developmental times of larvae and pupae at 30 o C we had to hatch larvae at 25 o C to get enough larvae to work with. Consequently, we were unable to determine how many eggs females lay at 30 o C because fewer eggs hatch and adults do not live for long at this temperature. These results may explain why avocado thrips numbers fall to very low levels over the summer in the inland valley areas. Based on the information we have gained from our laboratory work and studies on other Scirtothrips spp., we are gaining a better understanding of the life cycle of this pest.