Liothrips Uzel, 1895

Minaei, Kambiz & Mound, Laurence, 2014, The Liothrips-lineage of thrips (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) from Iran with the first record of micropterous morph of a Liothrips species, Zootaxa 3889 (1), pp. 107-117 : 110-111

Liothrips Uzel

Liothrips Uzel, 1895: 261 . Type species Phloeothrips setinodis Reuter.

Ataliothrips Bhatti, 1995: 98 . Type species Compsothrips reuteri Bagnall. syn.n.

Bhatti (1995) proposed Ataliothrips as a monobasic genus, and distinguished it from Liothrips with the following words: "the presence of rudimentary postocular setae and by the metanotal sculpture with somewhat enlarged midlateral reticulations as if pinching the midpoint sculpture made of closer lines". Certainly, no other species of Liothrips has such small postocular setae, often scarcely longer than the minor setae on the vertex. However, the length of this pair of setae is variable in reuteri , with one or both setae sometimes extending to the posterior margin of the compound eye ( Figs 14–16 ). Moreover, within other genera of Phlaeothripinae , particularly Haplothrips , the length of the postocular setae varies between species. For example, H. leucanthemi in Europe and H. timori in Australia both have the postocular setae very short in contrast to most species in this genus ( Mound & Minaei 2007; Minaei & Mound 2008). Moreover, an analysis of variation among six populations of Haplothrips tritici in Iran demonstrated that the length of these setae varies both within and between populations ( Minaei & Mound 2010). Thus the short postocular setae of reuteri can be considered as no more than an unusual autapomorphy of a single species within the genus Liothrips .

The metanotal sculpture is an even less convincing character state on which to distinguish Ataliothrips as a separate genus. This sculpture varies in reuteri between macropterous and micropterous females ( Figs 20–21 ), and moreover is not essentially different from that of either Liothrips austriacus or L. pragensis ( Figs 18–19 ). The genus Ataliothrips is therefore here considered a synonym of Liothrips .

Almost all Liothrips species feed on green leaves, and some tropical species induce leaf-galls. Despite this, few species in the genus are considered pests, although L. vaneekei is a widespread pest on cultivated lily bulbs and orchid stems ( Mound & Kibby 1998), and L. adisi was described as a pest of Guarana trees ( Paullinia cupana ) in Brazil (zur Strassen 1978). Moreover, L. austriacus is discussed below as having been reported as a pest of cultivated Pistacia trees in Iran. In contrast, a few species have been involved in weed biological control around the world ( Simmonds 1933; Cock 1982; Liau et al. 1991, 1994; Mound & Pereyra 2008).

From Iran, four Liothrips species have been reported, but one of these, L. jakhontovi , is currently considered a synonym of L. setinodis (see Bhatti et al. 2009). The following key distinguishes the three remaining species together with L. reuteri .

Figures

FIGURES 14–22. Liothrips from Iran. (14–16) Variation in length of reuteri postocular setae. (17) Head, pragensis. (18) Metanotum, austriacus. Metanotum and pelta 19–21: (19) pragensis; (20) reuteri, macroptera; (21) reuteri, microptera. (22) Abdominal sternite VIII, austriacus.