Neosmerinthothrips Schmutz, 1051

Mound, Laurence A. & Tree, Desley J., 2021, Tubuliferous Thysanoptera inAustralia with an enlarged tenth abdominal segment (Phlaeothripidae, Idolothripinae), including six new species, Zootaxa 4951 (1), pp. 167-181 : 172

Neosmerinthothrips Schmutz

Neosmerinthothrips Schmutz, 1913: 1051 .

Type species N. fructuum Schmutz.

This genus of Idolothripinae-Diceratothripina is weakly diagnosed, but an identification key to the 18 included species was provided by Mound (1974b), with an additional three species added subsequently (ThripsWiki 2021). Very little is known about any of the species, as most of them are based on few specimens. The only species for which extensive measurements and illustrations are available is N. insularis , of which Okajima (2006) studied good series of both sexes from the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. Wingless males of this species were described as exhibiting considerable variation in body size and setal lengths, although the setae on tergite IX are generally slightly shorter than the length of the tube. Moreover, the macropterous females were described as differing in structure and chaetotaxy from the wingless males. In consequence, species recognition within this genus is probably insecure. Individuals of Neosmerinthothrips species are usually beaten from dead branches where, judging from the gut contents of available specimens, the adults feed on fungal spores. The two new species described here were both found in northern Australia. One of them, N. barrowi sp.n., has the head longer than wide ( Fig. 17 ), the fore tarsus with a small tooth, and the median length of each sternite considerably longer than the corresponding tergite. The second species, N. turrbali sp.n., has the head almost as wide as long ( Fig. 18 ), the fore tarsus without a tooth, and the length of each pair of tergites and sternites not differing greatly.

Figures

FIGURES 14‒22. Heads of Acallurothrips. Neosmerinthothrips, Ozothrips and Pygothrips species. (14) A. nogutti. (15) A. erubi sp.n. (16) A.darumbali sp.n. (17) N.barrowi sp.n. (18) N.turrbali sp.n. (19) O. meanjini sp.n. (20) P. pygus. (21) P. shavianus. (22) P. rugicauda.