Hoplandrothrips Hood

Mound, Laurence A. & Tree, Desley J., 2013, Fungus-feeding thrips from Australia in the worldwide genus Hoplandrothrips (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripinae), Zootaxa 3700 (3), pp. 476-494 : 478

Hoplandrothrips Hood

Phloeothrips (Hoplandrothrips) Hood, 1912: 145 . Type species Phloeothrips (Hoplandrothrips) xanthopus Hood , now considered a synonym of Phloeothrips jennei Jones.

Diagnosis. Often sexually dimorphic, with males varying in body size; head shape variable, usually longer than wide, constricted behind eyes, reticulate dorsally; postocular setae usually well developed, wide apart; stylets usually retracted to eyes and close together medially, rarely short and wider apart; mouth cone variable; antennae 8- segmented, III with 2–4 (usually 3) sensoria, IV with 4; pronotum usually with 5 pairs of major setae, major males commonly with anteroangular pair particularly long; notopleural sutures complete; basantra absent; mesopresternum transverse, or divided into three plates; metathoracic sternopleural sutures present; metanotum usually reticulate medially; fore tarsal tooth present in both sexes, male fore femur often with pair of apical tubercles; fore wings usually weakly constricted medially, with duplicated cilia; pelta usually bell-shaped; tergites II–VII each with 2 pairs of wing-retaining setae; tube shorter than head, anal setae usually as long as tube or longer; male sternite VIII with or without pore plate; some males with specialized areas of reticulation anterolaterally on several sternites.

Structural diversity among Australian Hoplandrothrips species. Among these, flavipes is a tropical tramp that has been found occasionally in northern Queensland. In its antennae, this species is particularly similar to species of the genus Ecacanthothrips from Southeast Asia (Palmer & Mound 1978; Okajima 1983). However, one new species described below, brunneicinctus , shares several character states with flavipes but has different antennal sensoria. In both species, the median metanotal setae arise on the anterior half of this sclerite, there are no additional minor setae on the anterior half of the metanotum (or at least no more than one pair), and the fore femora of males have a pair of tubercles at the inner apical margin. In contrast, xanthocnemis and three new species described below, hemiflavus , howei , and hylaius , all have the median metanotal setae arising on the posterior half of the sclerite, the anterior half of this sclerite bears several additional minor setae, and the fore femora of males do not bear any tubercles. The three species of Hoplandrothrips described from New Zealand (Mound & Walker 1986) also have additional metanotal discal setae, but have the postocular setae closer to the midline on the head. Species with the largest bodies in this group often have additional pairs of tergal wing-retaining setae, including hylaius and a related undescribed species from New Caledonia. Large males of Hoplandrothrips species often have the pronotal anteroangular pair of setae unusually long ( Fig. 20 ), and in some species the postocular setae of males are longer than those of females. Similarly, males commonly have the anterior margin of the mesoeusternum considerably narrower than that of females ( Figs 27, 28 ), and the mesopresternum of such species also differs in shape between the sexes.

Figures

FIGURES 15 – 21. Hoplandrothrips from Australia. hemiflavus sp. n. 15 – 16: (15) head & pronotum; (16) Meso & metanotum, pelta & tergite II. hylaius sp. n. 17 – 21: (17) holotype head; (18) small male head & pronotum; (19) holotype meso & metanotum and pelta; (20) holotype pronotum; (21) male sternite V.

FIGURES 22 – 28. Hoplandrothrips from Australia. Head & pronotum 22 – 24: (22) ibisci sp. n.; (23) oreillyi sp. n.; (24) quadriconus. Meso & metanotum, pelta & tergite II, 25 – 26: (25) ibisci sp. n.; (26) quadriconus. Mesopresternum of xanthocnemis, 27 – 28: (27) female; (28) male.