Priesneriella Hood

Mound, Laurence A., 2007, New Australian spore-feeding Thysanoptera (Phlaeothripidae: Idolothripinae), Zootaxa 1604, pp. 53-68 : 63

Priesneriella Hood

Priesneriella Hood, 1927: 198 . Type-species P. citricauda Hood , by monotypy.

This genus comprises nine species worldwide, three from North America, four from Europe, and one each from New Zealand and Senegal. However, this West African species, described by Bournier (1994), does not belong in this genus: it should be referred to as Nesothrips vercambrei (Bournier) comb.n. Indeed, there is nothing in the original description and illustrations to distinguish this from the widespread species N. propinquus (Bagnall) . Mound & Palmer (1983) placed three genera into synonymy with Priesneriella , these having been distinguished mainly on the number of sensoria on the third antennal segment. The type-species of the genus is similar to P. gnomus Mound & Palmer from New Zealand and to P. s e m i n o l e (Hood) from Florida in lacking sensoria on the third antennal segment and in the wide-apart position of the maxillary stylets ( Mound & Palmer, 1983). In these three species, the ocellar setae are reported to be small, but among the Australian specimens they are well developed and slightly capitate in the macropterous female as well as in one apterous female, and one of these setae is well-developed in a micropterous female. This variation further supports the decision by Mound & Palmer (1983) to recognize only one genus for these nine species. As is common in such species that are usually wingless, the thoracic sternites are weakly sclerotised, the basantra almost absent, the ferna small, the mesopraesternum absent, and the anterior margin of the mesoeusternum often heavily eroded.