Suocerathrips linguisSuocerathrips linguisFemale macroptera. Body and legs brown, head and tube darkest; tarsi and apices of tibiae yellow; antennal segment III yellow, IV–VIII progressively darker; fore wings weakly shaded; major setae light brown. Antennae 8-segmented, III with no sense cones, IV with 1 sense cone. Head small, cephalic setae all short and pointed; maxillary stylets wide apart and low in head. Pronotum with almost no sculpture; epimeral and posteroangular setal pairs well-developed, the other three pairs no larger than discal setae; notopleural sutures incomplete. Metanotum without sculpture. Fore tarsal tooth absent. Fore wings parallel sided, without duplicated cilia, sub-basal setae minute. Prosternal basantra absent; mesopresternum reduced to 2 small triangles. Tergites weakly reticulate; II-VI each with 1 pair of almost straight wing-retaining setae; setae S1 on IX shorter than tube. Tube longer than head, anal setae short.
Male with short wings not extending beyond tergite V; fore tarsal tooth absent; sternite VIII without pore plate.
Only one species is placed in the genus Suocerothrips. The short maxillary stylets that are very low in the head, and the absence of a sense cone from the third antennal segment, are character states that preclude any suggestion of related species.
Forming large colonies almost at ground level on the leaves of various species of Sanseviera [Sansevieriaceae].
Described from material found in England, on Sanseveria plants in a glasshouse at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Mound & Marullo, 1994). This original population was eradicated by the plant health authorities and no further populations have been found in Britain. However, the species is also now known from similar plants in greenhouses in Europe, and presumably came originally from East Africa.
PHLAEOTHRIPIDAE - PHLAEOTHRIPINAE
Suocerathrips linguis Mound & Marullo
Suocerathrips linguis Mound & Marullo, 1994: 96
Mound LA & Marullo R (1994) New thrips on Mother-in-Law's Tongue. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 130: 95–98.
