Thrips juniperinusThrips juniperinusBoth sexes fully winged. Body colour yellowish brown to light brown; tibiae and tarsi largely yellow; major setae brown, antennal segment III light brown, IV–VII brown; fore wings uniformly shaded. Antennae 7-segmented; III–IV each with forked sense cone. Head with 2 pairs of ocellar setae; pair III no longer than distance between 2 ocelli, arising just outside ocellar triangle; postocular setae pair I slightly longer than ocellar setae III. Pronotum with 2 pairs of posteroangular setae; posterior margin with 3 pairs of setae; discal area with widely spaced irregular transverse striae. Mesonotum with paired anterior campaniform sensilla; median setae arise well in front of posterior margin. Metanotum with irregular reticulation medially; median setae arising behind anterior margin; campaniform sensilla absent. Fore wing first vein with 3 setae on distal half; second vein with about 10 setae. Abdominal tergite II with 3 lateral marginal setae; tergites V–VIII with paired ctenidia, on VIII posteromesad to spiracles; tergite VIII posteromarginal comb absent medially, with several microtrichia laterally, discal setae S1 much smaller than S2; pleurotergites with no discal setae, sculpture lines with many ciliate microtrichia, posterior margin with microtrichia; tergite IX with 2 pairs of campaniform sensilla, X with median split. Sternites with no discal setae; sternite I with 2–3 very small setae near anterior margin; sternite VII setae S1 arise in front of margin.
Male smaller than female and yellow; tergite VIII with no posteromarginal comb; tergite IX median setae slender, pale in colour; sternites III–VI each with small slender transverse 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 juniperinus appears to be a host-specific species that is related to the common polyphagous species Thrips major, but can be distinguished from that species by the presence of 2 to 3 very small setae on sternite I.
Feeding and breeding on the leaves of Juniperus communis [Cupressaceae].
Locally common in Scotland (Mound et al., 1976), this species has been found widely in northern and eastern Europe, as well as Spain.
THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE
Thrips juniperinus Linnaeus
Thrips juniperinus Linnaeus, 1758: 457
Thrips junipericola Morison, 1948: 63
Thrips carpathicus Knechtel, 1948: 480
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.
