Distinguishing features

Both sexes wingless. Female golden brown, tarsi pale; tibiae and apices of femora with pale markings; head pale between eyes; antennal segments I–II yellow, III–IV with dark patches in basal third, V–VII with pedicel yellow, and VIII brown. Head longer than tube, strongly sculptured, sculpture resembles overlapping scales; anterior ocellus apparently lying in a small depression, posterior ocelli small; compound eyes small; postocular setae short. Antennae 7-segmented; segments III and IV each with 2 sense cones, IV–VI each with a distinct pedicel. Pronotum weakly sculptured; major setae short, epimerals longest; prosternal basantra absent; mesopresternum transverse, entire. Mesonotum slender, transverse, without wing lobes; metanotum broad, finely reticulate, with pair of small median setae, no setae on anterior margins. Fore tarsus with a small tooth. Pelta with lateral lobes very reduced or even fused to tergite II, median lobe reticulate, almost rectangular; tergite II reticulate, not eroded laterally; tergites II–VII distinctly sculptured, each with 1 pair of reduced wing-retaining setae; tergite IX posteromarginal setae about half as long as tube; tube short, weakly sculptured, parallel-sided, with a slight constriction at apex, terminal setae short.
Male similar to female but head pale, with brown on lateral margins; antennal segments III–VII brown; mid and hind tibiae entirely brown; pronotum more elongate; fore femora swollen; fore tarsal tooth large.

Related species

Eight species are listed in this genus, of which five are from New Zealand, two from South Africa and one from Saudi Arabia. H. kuscheli is a small but distinctive species with a sculptured surface, but it has many characters in common with the other members of Heptathrips.

Biological data

Feeding on fungal spores, on dead branches and in leaf-litter.

Distribution data

Known only from New Zealand (AK, TO / SD).

Family name

PHLAEOTHRIPIDAE, IDOLOTHRIPINAE

Species name

Heptathrips kuscheli Mound & Walker

Original name and synonyms

Heptathrips kuscheli Mound & Walker, 1986: 26

References

Mound LA & Palmer JM (1983) The generic and tribal classification of spore-feeding Thysanoptera (Phlaeothripidae: Idolothripinae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology 46: 1–174.

Mound LA & Walker AK (1986) Tubulifera (Insecta: Thysanoptera). Fauna of New Zealand 10: 1–140.