Aeolothrips vittatusAeolothrips vittatusFemale with fore wing posterior margin dark except at base and apex, with one transverse dark band. Body and legs brown; antennal segments III–IV yellow with apex shaded in contrast to brown of remaining segments. Antennae 9-segmented, segment III with linear sensorium less than half as long as segment, IV with sensorium about half as long as segment; segments V–IX forming a single unit with V considerably longer than VI–IX. Head and pronotum with no long setae. Fore tarsus apically with stout recurved ventral hamus. Metanotum reticulate. Marginal setae on sternites arising at or close to margin; sternite VII median posteromarginal setae closer to setae S2 than to each other; 2 pairs of accessory setae arise far anterior to posterior margin.
Male not known.
Over 100 species are placed in the genus Aeolothrips, mostly from the Palaearctic Region but with about 30 from the Nearctic including the western USA. A. vittatus is another member of the species-group in which the fore wing has a dark posterior margin. It is most similar to A. versicolor and A. melaleucus but has only one transverse dark band on the fore wing.
Associated with branches of Pinus trees, and presumably a predator of mites and thrips larvae.
Collected infrequently at various places across England and Scotland, mainly to the east and as far north as Inverness (Mound et al., 1976), this species is widespread across Europe southward from Norway and the Asian Palaearctic (zur Strassen, 2003), and also occurs in northern USA (Stannard, 1968).
AEOLOTHRIPIDAE
Aeolothrips vittatus Haliday
Aeolothrips (Coleothrips) vittatus Haliday, 1836: 451
Aeolothrips (Coleothrips) limbata Reuter, 1879: 213, 222
Aeolothrips vittatus var. decipiens Priesner, 1920: 9
Mound LA, Morison GD, Pitkin BR & Palmer JM (1976) Thysanoptera. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects 1 (11): 1–79.
Stannard LJ (1968) The thrips, or Thysanoptera, of Illinois. Bulletin of the Illinois Natural History Survey 29: 213–552.
zur Strassen R (2003) Die terebranten Thysanopteren Europas und des Mittelmeer-Gebietes. Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 74: 1–271.
