Strepterothrips tuberculatus (Girault)

Mound, Laurence A. & Tree, Desley J., 2015, Fungus-feeding Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripinae of the Idiothrips genus-group in Australia, with nine new species, Zootaxa 4034 (2), pp. 325-341 : 339

Strepterothrips tuberculatus (Girault)

( Figs 26 , 28 , 41 )

Rhopalothrips tuberculatus Girault, 1929: 2 .

A full description of this species, indicating its wide distribution across Australia, was provided by Mound and Ward (1971). Males vary greatly in body size, head shape, and length of the claw-like fore tarsal hamus, and fully winged females occur in low numbers. Moreover, antennal segment III varies in colour, both within and between populations, from almost uniformly dark brown ( Fig. 26 ) to pale brownish-yellow. This thrips is common on dead, often dry, twigs in eastern Australia, and has been studied from Kangaroo Island, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales (including ACT and Lord Howe Island), Central and southeastern Queensland, and the southwest of Western Australia. The species is established in New Zealand, but despite extensive collecting activity, only one female, a macroptera, has been taken from the northern, tropical, areas of Australia. On Norfolk Island a similar species, verruculus , is common but this differs from tuberculatus in details of sculpture and thoracic chaetotaxy ( Figs 39–41 ).

Figures

FIGURES 16 – 26. Strepterothrips species from Australia. Mesoeusternal anterior margin 16 – 19: (16) verruculus; (17); arake; (18) orientalis; (19) parvulus. Antennae 20 – 26: (20) arake; (21) barbatus; (22) moffati; (23) okajimai; (24) orientalis; (25) parvulus; (26) tuberculatus.

FIGURES 27 – 35. Strepterothrips species from Australia. Head 27 – 29: (27) moffati, (28) tuberculatus; (29) verruculus. Head and pronotum 30 – 32: (30) okajimai; (31) parvulus;; (32) arake. Metanotum, pelta and tergites 33 – 34: (33) okajimai; (34) akake. (35) Male verruculus.

FIGURES 36 – 45. Strepterothrips species from Australia. Metanotum and pelta 36 – 37: (36) apterus; (37) barbatus. Pronotum 38 – 39: (38) barbatus; (39) verruculus. (40) verruculus metanotum and pelta. (41) tuberculatus thorax and pelta. (42) moffati metanotum, pelta and tergites. Apical abdominal segments 43 – 45: (43) arake; (44) okajimai; (45) orientalis.