Rubiothrips silvarumRubiothrips silvarumBoth sexes fully winged. Body legs and antennae brown, tarsi paler; fore wing evenly shaded. Antennae 8-segmented, segment VI narrowed to base but without a basal ring; segments III–IV with slender forked sense cone. Head and pronotum without long setae. Head with 3 pairs of ocellar setae, pair III arising between anterior margins of posterior ocelli, pair I anterolateral to first ocellus. Mesonotum with paired anterior campaniform sensilla, median setae arising far forward of posterior margin. Metanotum reticulate, median setae well behind anterior margin, without campaniform sensilla. Fore wing with veinal setae shorter than half of wing width, first vein with 3 setae on distal half, second vein with about 8 widely spaced setae. Abdominal tergites with transversely reticulate sculpture lines, at least on posterior half of sclerites, median setae much longer than distance between their bases and arising on anterior half of each tergite; VIII with no posteromarginal comb; IX with 2 pairs of campaniform sensilla but lacking a small seta between the major posterior median and sub-median setae; X with long median split; pleurotergites V–VII with marginal seta arising in front of margin. Sternites without discal setae, setae S1 on VII arising in front of margin.
Male similar to female; tergite IX without stout dorsal setae; sternites III–VI each with large transverse pore plate, VII with smaller circular one.
Ten species are currently listed in Rubiothrips, but only two are established in Britain, with a further five species recorded from elsewhere in Europe (Bhatti, 1978; zur Strassen 2003), two more from Iran (Minaei, 2013) and one from Japan (Masumoto & Okajima, 2017a). Of these ten species, seven are recorded as being associated with species of Galium [Rubiaceae], as are the species of the related genus Belothrips. The form of antennal segment VI and the setae on tergite IX differ in the two British species, silvarum and validus (zur Strassen, 2003).
Found on leaves and flowers of its host plants, and associated particularly with Galium verum [Rubiaceae].
Recorded from southern England as far north as the East Midlands (Mound et al., 1976), but widespread across Europe.
THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE
Rubiothrips silvarum (Priesner)
Anaphothrips silvarum Priesner, 1920: 71
Bhatti JS (1978) Systematics of Anaphothrips Uzel 1895 sensu latu and some related genera (Insecta: Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Senckenbergiana-Biologica 59: 85–114.
Masumoto M & Okajima S (2017a) Anaphothrips genus-group: key to world genera, with two new species and three new records from Japan (Thysanoptera, Thripidae). Zootaxa 4272 (2): 201–220.
Minaei K (2013) Thrips (Insecta, Thysanoptera) of Iran: a revised and updated checklist. ZooKeys 330: 53–74.
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.
