Solomonthrips vanuaensis (Moulton), 2020

Mound, Laurence, 2020, Taxonomic confusion among gall-thrips and host-plants, with three new combinations from the genus Austrothrips (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripidae), Zootaxa 4755 (3), pp. 587-592 : 590

Solomonthrips vanuaensis (Moulton) comb.n.

( Figs 10–15)

Austrothrips vanuaensis Moulton, 1944: 285

Described from Fiji based on a single micropterous male, this holotype has now been re-examined. It shares many character states with the eight described species of Solomonthrips , particularly the presence on tergite VIII of a pair of curved wing- retaining setae ( Fig. 13), but also including the following: antennae with segment VIII long and slender, and two sense cones on each of antennal segments III and IV; head constricted behind the eyes with the stylets wide apart ( Fig. 10); pronotum with only four pairs of major setae ( Fig. 12); prosternal basantra present; pelta bell-shaped ( Fig. 15); male sternite VIII without pore plate; male tergite IX setae S2 not shorter and stouter than S1. Only three other Phlaeothripinae genera share with Solomonthrips the character state of wing-retaining setae on tergite VIII ( Dang et al. 2014), together with one of the six species in the genus Neurothrips (see Mound & Marullo 1996). The single species placed in Lizalothrips , described from The Philippines, shares with vanuaensis the presence of a single pair of weakly curved setae on tergite VIII, but the compound eyes are large and elongate ventrally, and the pronotum bears five pairs of major setae. The single species placed in Propesolomonthrips , also described from The Philippines, has two pairs of curved setae on tergite VIII, the pronotum with five pairs of major pronotal setae, the metanotum closely striate longitudinally, and antennal segment IV with three sense cones. Similarly, the eight species described in Phylladothrips have two pairs of wing-retaining setae on tergite VIII, but antennal seg- ments III and IV have three and four sense cones respectively. The species vanuaensis differs from the species of all four of these genera in having the pronotal anteromarginal setae minute ( Fig. 12). From the described species of Solomonthrips it differs in lacking sculpture on the head and metanotum ( Fig. 10), and it is unique among Phlaeothripinae in having a pair of remarkably stout, flattened setae on each of sternites VIII and IX ( Fig. 14).