Thrips crassicornisThrips crassicornisBoth sexes fully winged. Body and femora brown, tarsi and apices of tibiae yellow, antennal segment I and V–VII light brown, II–III mostly yellow; major setae on pronotum pale; fore wing very weakly shaded. Antennae 7-segmented; segments III–IV each with short forked sense cone, VII short. Head wider than long; with 2 pairs of ocellar setae; pair III small, arising just outside anterior margins of ocellar triangle; postocular setae pairs I–III about equal to ocellar setae III. Pronotum with 2 pairs of prominent posteroangular setae; posterior margin with 3 pairs of setae. Mesonotum anterior campaniform sensilla present. Metanotum with elongate reticulation medially with lines converging to midpoint at posterior margin; median setae arising behind anterior margin; campaniform sensilla absent. Fore wing first vein with 3 setae on distal half; second vein with about 12 setae. Abdominal tergite II with 3 lateral marginal setae; V–VIII with paired ctenidia, on VIII posteromesad to spiracles; tergite VIII posteromarginal comb complete, microtrichia long and slender; tergite IX with only one pair of campaniform sensilla, X with median split; pleurotergites without discal setae, but with a few microtrichia on sculpture lines, posterior margin with broadly based microtrichia. Sternites without discal setae, setae S1 on VII arising in front of margin.
Male similar to female but smaller; sternites III–VII each with broad pore plate.
The genus Thrips is the second largest genus in the Thysanoptera, and currently includes, worldwide, over 290 species. All members of genus Thrips lack ocellar setae I on the head, and they all have ctenidia on tergite VIII posteromesad to the spiracles. Other characters, such as number of antennal segments, number of setae on the fore wing veins, and number of discal setae on the sternites are variable between species (Palmer, 1992; Nakahara, 1994; Mound & Masumoto, 2005). Thrips crassicornis is similar in structure to palustris but much paler in the colour of the body and fore wings.
Feeding and breeding on the leaves of its host plants, and largely specific to Euphorbia amygdaloides [Euphorbiaceae].
Originally described from material from Devon (Bagnall, 1923) and recorded again, from the New Forest, in 1923 (Mound et al., 1976), but has not been collected in Britain since. The species has been recorded from five other countries in central and eastern Europe (zur Strassen, 2003).
THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE
Thrips crassicornis Bagnall
Thrips crassicornis Bagnall, 1923: 59
Bagnall RS (1923) A contribution towards a knowledge of the British Thysanoptera, with descriptions of new species. Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 59: 56–60.
Mound LA & Masumoto M (2005) The genus Thrips (Thysanoptera, Thripidae) in Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand. Zootaxa 1020: 1–64.
Mound LA, Morison GD, Pitkin BR & Palmer JM (1976) Thysanoptera. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects 1 (11): 1–79.
Nakahara S (1994) The genus Thrips Linnaeus (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) of the New World. United States Department of Agriculture. Technical Bulletin 1822: 1–183.
Palmer JM (1992) Thrips (Thysanoptera) from Pakistan to the Pacific: a review. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology Series 61 (1): 1–76.
zur Strassen R (2003) Die terebranten Thysanopteren Europas und des Mittelmeer-Gebietes. Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 74: 1–271.
