Melanthripidae, Bagnall, 1913

Borbón, Carlos Manuel De, 2009, A redefinition of Dorythrips (Thysanoptera: Melanthripidae) with a description of a new species from Argentina, Zootaxa 2121, pp. 17-26 : 19

Key to extant Melanthripidae genera

1. Antennal segment II prolonged ventro-laterally into toothed lobe; head with ocellar setae I arising on conical, slightly bifurcate tubercle ( USA, Europe, South Africa) ............................................................................. Ankothrips

-. Antennal segment II with apex symmetrical, without an apical tooth; head without a conical, slightly bifurcate tubercle bearing ocellar setae pair I....................................................................................................................................... 2

2. Antennal segment I inner apex prolonged ventro-laterally into serrate lobe that frequently extends to mid-point of segment II ( Australia, South Africa) ........................................................................................................... Cranothrips

-. Antennal segment I without a ventro-lateral apical lobe .............................................................................................. 3

3. Apex of fore tibia with one or more stout, spur-like setae, each seta less than three times longer than wide ( Fig. 5); head never with an inter-antennal projection (Europe, South Africa, India, USA) .................................... Melanthrips

-. Apex of fore tibiae with two slender setae, each seta more than five times longer than wide ( Figs 6–7); head usually with prominent inter-antennal projection ( Figs 1, 17, 19) ( Argentina; Chile, Australia) ............................ Dorythrips