Phaulothrips longitubus Girault

Mound, Laurence A. & Tree, Desley J., 2013, Australian spore-feeding thrips of the genus Phaulothrips (Thysanoptera, Idolothripinae), Zootaxa 3608 (4), pp. 239-252 : 250

Phaulothrips longitubus Girault

Phaulothrips longitubus Girault, 1928: 2

The original specimen on which this species was based (in QM) is a severely damaged macropterous female, with the head mounted laterally and lacking major setae and antennae. The tergites have only one pair of wing retaining setae, and the lateral lobes of the pelta do not bear a pair of setae. The head is 880 microns long, and the tube about 800 microns, thus the ratio of tube to head length is about 0.9. This specimen was collected at Mt Tamborine, in southeast Queensland. Several specimens from southeastern Queensland have been studied that possibly represent this species, but these have a head to tube ratio of 0.76–0.96 in females. In addition, the following are also considered to represent longitubus : one male from near Canberra, one female from Nelson, Victoria, and three females from Flinders Island (taken at same site as flindersi ). On present evidence it is not possible to be sure if longitubus and fuscus are really distinct species, or indeed if they are members of a group of unrecognized sibling species.