Abstract
Colony development of a gall-forming thrips, Ponticulothrips diospyrosi, and the gall-associated arthropod community were studied in Kyoto. Each gall formed on a persimmon leaf by an overwintered female contained 160-190 of 1st generation offspring on the average (max. 760) at the peak of the colony size. The sex ratio of the 1st generation adults was female biased (females 80%). A small number of 2nd generation offspring occurred in galls formed by the 1st generation on secondary shoots in summer. Arthropods of 14 orders were collected from the galls, including both phytophagous such as Homoptera and Thysanoptera and predacious such as Araneae, Heteroptera, Neuroptera, Diptera, Coleoptera and Hymenoptera. Colony size of P. diospyrosi, and also the abundance of gall-associated arthropods, was positively correlated with gall size.
