Biocontrol Bites Biocontrol: Potential Interference of the Brazilian Peppertree Biological Control Thrips Pseudophilothrips ichini (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) by Montandoniola confusa (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae)

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Abstract
Pseudophilothrips ichini (Hood) (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) is native to Brazil and was selected as a biological control agent of Brazilian peppertree, Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi (Anacardiaceae), in Florida (Habeck et al. 1994; Cuda et al. 2004; Wheeler et al. 2016a; Wheeler et al. 2017). Pseudophilothrips ichini was approved by the US Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Riverdale, Maryland, USA, for field release in Florida in May 2019 (Wheeler et al. 2022). Brazilian peppertree is a woody shrub to small, multi-stemmed tree that is highly invasive in Florida in both urban and natural landscapes (McJunkin 1977; Loope & Dunevitz 1981; Cunningham 1991; Schmalzer 1995; Schmitz et al. 1997; Rodgers et al. 2014). Pseudophilothrips ichini has 2 larval instars and they feed in groups along with adults on tender flushing leaves and stems. First instars are yellow to pale orange, second instars are bright orange, and adults are black, averaging 0.7 mm, 1.0 mm, and 2.5 mm in length, respectively (Wheeler et al. 2016b). As part of our surveys for P. ichini establishment and spread at release sites, as well as in mass rearing operations, we have noted novel interactions between P. ichini and naturalized arthropods. This is the first formal report documenting predation of P. ichini in a field setting by an oligophagous thrips predator, specifically one that is a biological control agent for the Cuban laurel thrips, Gynaikothrips ficorum (Marchal) (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae), on cultivated Ficus spp. (Moraceae).

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