Dinothrips, Bagnall, 1908

Eow, L. X., Mound, L. A. & Ng, Y. F., 2011, Genera of Spore-Feeding Thysanoptera from Southeast Asia (Phlaeothripidae, Idolothripinae), with a species checklist from Peninsular Malaysia, Zootaxa 2928 (1), pp. 1-19 : 17

Dinothrips

There are six species listed in this genus, all from Southeast Asia between Sri Lanka, Philippines and southern China. However, recent material collected in Malaysia indicates that the species taxonomy is not secure. Palmer & Mound (1978) provided a key to distinguish the five species known at that time, but the character states given by these authors for D. spinosus Schmutz and D. sumatrensis Bagnall do not distinguish all available specimens. Moreover, specimens referable to these two forms have been taken together at several sites, both in Malaysia and other Asian territories. An alternative explanation, that these specimens represent a single variable species, requires further testing, preferably with molecular data. Only one of the six species, D. monodon Karny from Philippines, seems to be distinctive morphologically. D. hainanensis Zhang from southern China, together with D. juglandis Moulton and D. longicauda Ananthakrishnan from India, are possibly variants of D. sumatrensis . The process associated with the mesothoracic spiracle in males of this genus is highly variable, from large and bifurcate to almost non-existent.