Abstract: The objective of this research was to study the relationship between the feeding behavior and the suitability of host plants for Frankliniella occidentalis， and was to demonstrate the difference of feeding behavior for males and females on the same host plant. The feeding behaviors for western flower thrips(WFT) on tomato， pepper， stramonium and petunia were recorded using the direct current electrical penetration graph (DCEPG). The results showed as follows: (1) The noningestion probes for WFT on pepper were significantly less than that on other host plants. The number of noningestion probes for females on pepper， tomato， stramonium and petunia was 2311， 3289， 3610 and 3044， respectively. The number of noningestion probes for males on pepper， tomato， stramonium and petunia was 1527， 2772， 2214 and 1968， respectively. Compared with tomato， the shortingestion probes for WFT was significantly greater on petunia. The number of shortingestion probes for females on tomato and petunia was 688 and 1444， respectively. The number of shortingestion probes for males on tomato and petunia was 159 and 809. The longingestion probes on petunia were less than that on other host plants. (2) The noningestion probes and shortingestion probes for females were more than those for males; however， the longingestion probe for males was more than that for females. The number and the duration of noningestion probes for females on petunia were 15 times of that for males. Compared with females， the number and duration of shortingestion probes for males was 4 times and 2 times of those for females on tomato， respectively. The number and the duration of longingestion probes for males were 2 times and 7 times of that for females on tomato， respectively. In conclusion， the feeding behavior of western flower thrips on host plants doesnt have close relation to the suitability of host plants．

Key words: Frankliniella occidentalis, direct current electrical penetration graph (DCEPG), host plant, feeding behavior, sexual difference