Haplothrips flavitibiaHaplothrips flavitibiaBoth sexes fully winged. Body and femora brown to dark brown, all tarsi and tibiae yellow, antennal segments III–VI largely yellow; fore wing pale with base shaded; major setae dark. Antennae 8-segmented, segment III with one small sense cone, IV with 4 similar sense cones; VIII short. Head slightly longer than wide; maxillary stylets less than 0.5 of head width apart, retracted to postocular setae, maxillary bridge complete; postocular setae with bluntly pointed apices, scarcely 0.7 as long as dorsal length of compound eye. Pronotum with 3 pairs of major setae with bluntly pointed apices, anteromarginal setae acute and no larger than discal setae; epimeral sutures complete; prosternal basantra present, mesopresternum complete. Fore tarsus without a tooth. Fore wing constricted medially, with 6–7 duplicated cilia; sub-basal setae bluntly pointed. Tergite IX setae all acute, about 0.5 as long as tube.
Male with no pore plate on sternite VIII; fore tarsal tooth present; tergite IX setae S2 short and stout.
The genus Haplothrips is one of the three most species-rich genera of Thysanoptera, and currently includes about 245 species worldwide. Most of these species come from the Holarctic or the Old World tropics, with 80 listed from Europe and 14 from Britain. No Haplothrips species is known to be endemic to the Neotropics, although a few are native to southern South America (Mound & Zapater, 2003). Haplothrips species are largely phytophagous, particularly associated with the flowers of Asteraceae and Poaceae, but some are predatory (Mound & Minaei, 2007). Haplothrips flavitibia is known from few specimens in Britain, but these are recognisable from the other members of the genus in Britain by the tibiae sharply yellow in contrast to the brown femora.
Apparently living on dead twigs, and presumably predatory on mites.
Described from material taken at Merton, South London (Williams, 1916), but otherwise recorded only another three times in England, and not north of Nottingham or since 1948 (Mound et al., 1976). However, this species is also recorded from Germany and from Iran (Minaei & Mound, 2008).
PHLAEOTHRIPIDAE - PHLAEOTHRIPINAE
Haplothrips flavitibia Williams
Haplothrips flavitibia Williams, 1916: 283
Minaei K & Mound LA (2008) The Thysanoptera Haplothripini (Phlaeothripidae) of Iran. Journal of Natural History 42: 2617–2658.
Mound LA & Minaei K (2007) Australian insects of the Haplothrips lineage (Thysanoptera – Phlaeothripinae). Journal of Natural History 41: 2919–2978.
Mound LA, Morison GD, Pitkin BR & Palmer JM (1976) Thysanoptera. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects 1 (11): 1–79.
Mound LA & Zapater MC (2003) South American Haplothrips species (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripidae), with a new species of biological control interest to Australia against weedy Heliotropium amplexicaule (Boraginaceae). Neotropical Entomology 32: 437–442.
Williams CB (1916) Biological and systematic notes on British Thysanoptera. The Entomologist 49: 221–227; 243–245; 275–284.
