Mycterothrips salicisMycterothrips salicisBoth sexes fully winged. Body, legs and antennae light brown, tarsi yellow, tibiae yellowish distally also antennal segment III and base of IV; fore wings shaded. Antennae 8-segmented; segment I with paired dorso-apical setae; segments III–IV each with apex scarcely narrowed, sense cone forked; V broad at apex and VI broad at base, VIII longer than VII. Head slightly wider than long; eyes with a few weakly pigmented facets; 3 pairs of ocellar setae, pair III long, arising within ocellar triangle. Pronotum with 2 pairs of long posteroangular setae, two pairs of posteromarginal setae, 12–18 discal setae. Mesonotum without campaniform sensilla anteromedially; median pair of setae near posterior margin. Metanotum irregularly reticulate medially; median setal pair near anterior margin, no campaniform sensilla. Meso- and metathoracic spinula both strongly-developed. Fore wing with 2 setae on distal half, near apex, second vein with about 13 setae. Abdominal tergites without ctenidia or craspeda; II–VII with no sculpture lines medially, no microtrichia on lateral sculpture lines but a fringe of microtrichia on posterior margin laterally; tergites VI–VIII with median setal pair more than 0.5 as long as median length of tergite, VIII with complete comb of long, fine microtrichia; IX with 2 pairs of campaniform sensilla, X with short median split. Sternites without discal setae, setae S1 on VII arising at margin.
Male similar to female but smaller; Antennae 8-segmented, similar in form to female; sternites withoout discal setae or pore plates.
The genus Mycterothrips, with 27 species worldwide, is primarily but not exclusively Holarctic (Masumoto & Okajima 2006). Five species are known from Europe, with two more in the wider Mediterranean area (zur Strassen 2003). In contrast to consociatus, the antennae of salicis are not sexually dimorphic, and the pronotum of females bears many fewer discal setae than in consociatus.
Feeding and breeding on leaves, particularly on Salix and Populus [Salicaceae], but probably pupating at ground level.
Although found in England it is not commonly collected, mainly in the south but also as far north as the Lake District or Northumberland (Mound et al., 1976). This species appears to have a Euro-Siberian distribution, but has also been recorded from North America (Quebec, New York, and Illinois) (zur Strassen, 2003).
THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE
Mycterothrips salicis (Reuter)
Thrips salicis Reuter, 1879: 220
Physopus ulmifoliorum var. bicolor Uzel, 1895: 123
Taeniothrips salicis f. fusca Priesner, 1922: 69
Taeniothrips salicis f. adusta Priesner, 1925: 311
Taeniothrips salicis f. pulchra Hukkinen, 1936: 31
Taeniothrips decoratus Pelikan, 1965: 99
Masumoto M & Okajima S (2006) A revision of and key to the world species of Mycterothrips Trybom (Thysanoptera, Thripidae) Zootaxa 1261: 1–90.
Mound LA, Morison GD, Pitkin BR & Palmer JM (1976) Thysanoptera. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects 1 (11): 1–79.
zur Strassen R (2003) Die terebranten Thysanopteren Europas und des Mittelmeer-Gebietes. Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 74: 1–271.
