Liothrips species of economic interest The most widespread Liothrips of economic importance is L. vaneeckei, the lily-bulb thrips that was described from Europe but which has been moved around the world by the horticultural trade in bulbs and orchids. Three other species of Liothrips have also been reported as localized plant pests. Liothrips oleae is a pest of olive trees in the European Mediterranean countries (Moritz et al. 2004). Liothrips adisi was described as a pest of the commercial liane Paullinea cupana in Brazil, and Liothrips austriacus has been implicated as a pest of Pistacia crops in Iran (Minaei & Mound 2014). In addition, three species in this genus have been investigated as biocontrol agents of weedy plants, L. urichi against Clidemia hirta (Simmonds 1933), L. mikaniae against Mikania micrantha (Cock 1982), and L. tractabilis against Campuloclinium macrocephalum (Mound & Pereyra 2008). The species of Liothrips reported here as damaging Jatropha in Mexico is of considerable potential interest in economic entomology because of increasing interest in the cultivation of Jatropha as a profitable crop.

Published as part of Mound, Laurence, Goldarazena, Arturo, Lopez-Guillen, Guillermo & Hance, Thierry, 2016, Replacement names for two homonyms of Liothrips brevitubus Karny: one from California, the other for a species damaging Jatropha crops in Mexico, pp. 594-599 in Zootaxa 4208 (6) on page 594, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.215123