Teuchothrips melaleucae (Girault)

Mound, Laurence A., 2008, Identification and host associations of some Thysanoptera Phlaeothripinae described from Australia pre- 1930, Zootaxa 1714, pp. 41-60 : 52-53

Teuchothrips melaleucae (Girault)

Liothrips melaleucae Girault, 1926: 1

Teuchothrips melaleucae (Girault) ; Mound & Houston, 1987: 18 The original description was: “From priesneri: Spur present; thoracic bristles unequal, mainly an unequal pair caudal corner. 7 accessory fringes each margin. Male, female ex galled leaves Melaleuca leucodendron, Brisbane, Tryon. ” The original slide in the Girault collection is labelled “ types ” but without further data ( Fig. 1 ), and bears about 16 specimens. Seven of these have wings, but nine are wingless; all are severely damaged, and one of the three cover-glasses is crushed. Because the original description refers to “7 accessory fringes”, the winged individuals must be considered the representatives of this species.

The six female and one male macropterae share the following character states: head with postocular setae not developed ( Fig. 20 ); pronotal anteromarginal setae as long as anteroangular setae; fore tarsal tooth small and slender; tergite IX setae S1 and S2 obscured or broken, but S3 finely acute and as long as tube; hind tarsi yellow, but apex of hind tibiae brown. The antennal segments are similar in colour to those of minor , with segments III–V or VI largely pale yellow; antennal segment III bears 1 sensorium, and IV bears 2 sensoria, but these sensoria are considerably longer than those of minor . The head has no obvious cheek setae, and the forewings of these macropterae have about seven duplicated cilia.

The species has not been collected since it was described, but one female with the type data of sodalis (in BMNH) is possibly melaleucae , although the pronotal anteromarginal setae are no larger than discal setae, there are eight duplicated wing cilia, and tergite IX setae S1 are capitate and shorter than the basal width of the tube.

The nine wingless specimens on the melaleucae type slide cannot be distinguished from micropterae of T. minor Bagnall , and they share with that species the following character states: head shorter and more reticulate than macropterae of melaleucae , postocular setae present, no pronotal anteromarginal setae; fore tarsal tooth stout; tergite IX setae S1 & S2 setae capitate but less than 0.5 of tube length; tarsi and extreme apices of hind tibiae sharply yellow.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Type slides of three species described by Karny, and three species described by Girault.

FIGURES 17 – 22. Teuchothrips species. (17) T. burroughsi metanotum & pelta. T. clavipilus holotype 18 – 19: (18) Metanotum & pelta; (19) Head. (20) T. melaleucae head of syntype. (21) T. disjunctus head & pronotum. (22) T. connatus head & pronotum.