Craspedothrips hargreavesi (Karny)

Mound, L. A., Masumoto, M. & Okajima, S., 2012, The Palaeotropical genus Craspedothrips, with new species from Africa and Malaysia (Thysanoptera, Thripinae), Zootaxa 3478, pp. 49-61 : 53

Craspedothrips hargreavesi (Karny)

( Figs 8–12 )

Physothrips hargreavesi Karny, 1925: 127

Plesiopsothrips zurstrasseni Bournier et al., 1976: 481 . syn.n.

Placed into a monobasic genus by zur Strassen (1966), this species is widespread in Africa. Specimens have been studied from eastern Africa between Ethiopia, Sudan and South Africa, and from Nigeria and Ghana in West Africa, but despite this, nothing is known of its biology. The sternal craspedal lobes of females are distinctive for this species, being larger than in any other member of the genus apart from nyanzai . Despite this, males collected with the females of hargreavesi , and that are considered to be conspecific, have no sternal craspeda, and moreover, ocellar setae pair III are distinctly shorter in these males than in females. The holotype of zurstrasseni from Madagascar has been studied (from MHN) and compared to other specimens of this widespread African species. In the same museum there are males bearing manuscript names, but these males cannot be associated with any females, and their relationships remain doubtful.

Figures

FIGURES 8–14. Craspedothrips species. C. hargreavesi 8–12: (8) pro, meso and metanota, and tergites I–II; (9) tergites VII–IX; (10) sternites V–VII; (11) male head and antennae; (12) female antenna. C. malaysiae antennal segments I–V 13–14: (13) paratype from Bali; (14) holotype.