Sinuothrips hastaSinuothrips hastaFemale macroptera. Body and legs mainly brown, fore tibiae paler distally, tarsi yellow; antennal segments I–II yellowish, III–VI yellow, VII–VIII brown; fore wing pale. Antennae 8-segmented, III with one sense cone, IV with 4 sense cones; VIII narrower at base than VII at apex. Head broader at posterior than anterior, with prominent inter-antennal projection; fore ocellus smaller than posterior pair; postocular setae acute, scarcely reaching posterior margin of eyes. Maxillary stylets retracted to eyes, about one fifth of head width apart. Pronotum with almost no sculpture, 4 pairs of short, pointed major setae, anteromarginal setae no longer than discal setae. Fore tarsus with small tooth. Fore wing narrrowed medially, with about 8 duplicated cilia; 3 sub-basal setae short and pointed, bases arranged in a triangle. Metanotum with some reticulate sculpture medially. Prosternal basantra present; mesopresternum transverse but narrowed medially. Pelta triangular, with weak sculpture; tergites II–VII each with 2 pairs of sigmoid setae, also 1 or 2 pairs of additional curved setae; tergite IX setae pointed, about 0.8 as long as tube.
Male similar to female but smaller, with the dorsal projection of the head also reduced. Sternites without glandular areas.
Only one species is placed in the genus Sinuothrips. Despite the remarkable prolongation on the anterior margin of the head, this species is probably most closely related to one of the species of Haplothrips that lives on Poaceae.
Breeding on reeds and grasses, and in Britain collected from imported Phragmites australis; also known from unidentified grasses in Inner Mongolia.
Not a British species, but was described from a live population found in Phragmites reeds being used to thatch a cottage in Devon; the reeds had been imported from Turkey (Collins, 2000b). The species has since been similarly recorded on Turkish reeds being imported into the Netherlands (Vierbergen, personal communication). Also recorded from Inner Mongolia and Turkey (Dang & Qiao, 2013; Tunç & Hastenpflug-Vesmanis, 2016), and probably widespread across the southern Holarctic.
PHLAEOTHRIPIDAE - PHLAEOTHRIPINAE
Sinuothrips hasta Collins
Sinuothrips hasta Collins, 2000: 286
Collins DW (2000b). A new genus and species of haplothripine thrips (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) with a prominent dorsal projection from the head. Insect Systematics and Evolution 31: 285–289.
Dang LH & Qiao GX (2013). First record of the genus Sinuothrips Collins in Phlaeothripinae (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) from China. Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 38 (2): 427–431.
Tunç I & Hastenpflug-Vesmanis A (2016) Records and checklist of Thysanoptera in Turkey. Turkish Journal of Zoology 40: 769–778.
