Thrips hawaiiensis a pest thrips from Asia newly introduced into Italy

Several permanent populations of Thrips hawiiensis (Morgan) were discovered outdoors for the first time in 2015, in different sites in Italy. The species widely distributed and common in tropical countries is now recorded from three European countries: France, Spain and Italy. It is a phytophagous and polyphagous species that infests flowers, vegetables and fruit trees belonging to several plant species. Its spread and establishment into European countries could be favoured by the climatic and cultural conditions. This paper reports a list of plants where the thrips has been sampled from, together with data referred to the morphological identification, the systematic position, distribution and bionomics.