Thrips klapalekiThrips klapalekiBoth sexes fully winged. Body and femora dark brown, tarsi and apices of tibiae yellowish; antennal segments I–II dark brown, III yellow at apex and also ventrally but brown on dorsal surface, IV paler at base and apex, V pale at base, VI–VII brown; major setae dark brown; fore wing brown with base sharply paler. Antennae 7-segmented; segments III–IV each with a constricted apical neck bearing a long, forked sense cone, VII short. Head wider than long with cheeks rounded and constricted behind eyes; with 2 pairs of ocellar setae; pair III about as long as distance between 2 ocelli, arising just outside anterior margins of ocellar triangle; postocular setae pair I about equal to ocellar setae III, pairs II and III smaller. Pronotum with 2 pairs of long posteroangular setae; posterior margin with 3 pairs of setae, median pair much stouter than lateral 2 pairs. Mesonotum with anterior campaniform sensilla present or absent. Metanotum with weak irregular reticulation medially; median setae arising behind anterior margin; campaniform sensilla present but wide apart. Fore wing first vein with 3 setae on distal half; second vein with about 10 setae. Abdominal tergite II with 4 lateral marginal setae; V–VIII with paired ctenidia, on VIII posteromesad to spiracles; tergite VIII posteromarginal comb complete with slightly irregular slender microtrichia; tergite IX with anterior pair of campaniform sensilla present anterolaterally; tergite X long with margins slightly concave and long median split; pleurotergites without discal setae, without microtrichia on sculpture lines or on posterior margin. Sternites without discal setae, S1 on VII arising in front of margin.
Male [not recorded in Britain] 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). Although the form of antennal segments III and IV are rather similar to the condition found in Thrips dilatatus, the tenth abdominal segment of Thrips klapaleki is different from that of any other member of the genus in Britain.
Feeding and breeding in the flowers of various Orchidaceae, including Dactylorhiza and Gymnadenia.
Recorded in Britain mainly from northern Scotland, but with one record from Kent in 1950 (Morison, 1968b; Mound et al., 1976), and known across northern Europe as far south as Austria and northern Italy (zur Strassen, 2003).
THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE
Thrips klapaleki Uzel
Thrips klapaleki Uzel, 1895: 203
Thrips alpinus Priesner, 1920: 78
Morison GD (1968b) Observations and records for some British Thysanoptera. VII Thripidae, Thrips klapaleki Uzel. The Entomologist 101: 265–268.
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.
