Aptinothrips karnyiAptinothrips karnyiBoth sexes without wings. Body and legs yellow, antennal segments VI–VIII weakly shaded brown, also apex of abdominal tergite X. Antennae 8-segmented; segment II swollen beyond narrow pedicel, VI sharply pedicilate, almost twice as long as V; segments III–IV each with a simple sense cone. Head and pronotum without long setae; head longer than wide, ocelli not developed; maxillary palps 3-segmented. Meso- and metanota transverse. Tarsi each with only one segment. Abdominal tergites and sternites with no posteromarginal craspedum; tergites without discal setae, III–VIII with 8 small setae in a transverse row near posterior margin; tergite IX posteromedian setae about 0.6 times as long as lateral pair of setae; sternites with many discal setae.
Male similar but smaller; sternites without pore plates; tergite IX with 2 pairs of stout thorn-like setae.
Four species are recognized in this European genus (Palmer, 1975; zur Strassen, 2003). These are all completely wingless, but differ in the number of segments on the antennae and tarsi, and also in details of the chaetotaxy on the tergites and sternites. A. karnyi is distinguished from the other members of the genus by the bulbous shape of antennal segment II.
Feeding and breeding on the leaves of various species of Poaceae.
In Britain, recorded once only, a single adult female found on grass at Folkestone in Kent in 1949 (Pitkin, 1969), but widespread in Western and Central Europe. It has also been recorded from Nepal (zur Strassen, 2003).
THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE
Aptinothrips karnyi John
Aptinothrips karnyi John, 1927: 205
Palmer JM (1975) The grass-living genus Aptinothrips Haliday (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Journal of Entomology (B) 44 (2): 175–188.
Pitkin BR (1969) New records of Thysanoptera in the British Isles. Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 105: 201–202.
zur Strassen R (2003) Die terebranten Thysanopteren Europas und des Mittelmeer-Gebietes. Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 74: 1–271.
