Distinguishing features

Female fully winged. Body yellowish with dark setae; antennal segments II and IV–VII brown, III pale; fore wing weakly shaded. Antennae 7-segmented; VII relatively short, III and IV each with a forked sense cone. Head wider than long, with raised sculpture lines. Pronotum with 3 pairs of posteromarginal setae, posteroangular setae short and stout. Metanotum irregularly reticulate medially, without campaniform sensilla. Fore wing with complete setal rows on both veins. Tergites laterally with a posteromarginal fringe of microtrichia; VIII with marginal comb short, irregular, but with some microtrichia present medially. Pleurotergites with 4–5 discal setae. Sternites with about 10 discal setae, sternite II with 3 pairs of posteromarginal setae.
Male not known.

Related species

There are 13 species of the genus Thrips recorded from New Zealand, of which five comprise an endemic group, out of a total of 280 species worldwide (Mound & Masumoto, 2005). All members of Thrips genus have paired ctenidia on the tergites, and on tergite VIII these are postero-mesad to the spiracles, and these species also lack ocellar setae pair I in front of the first ocellus. In contrast, Frankliniella species have ctenidia on tergite VIII antero-lateral to the spiracles, and a pair of setae is always present in front of the first ocellus. Thrips austellus is one of the five New Zealand endemic species in the genus Thrips, and is particularly similar to T. martini but paler and with much shorter pronotal posteroangular setae. These five all share the presence of three pairs of posteromarginal setae on sternite II, in contrast to the two pairs found in the other 275 species of this genus from other parts of the world. These endemic New Zealand species of Thrips also have two complete rows of setae on the fore wing, and have discal setae on the sternites and pleurotergites.

Biological data

The only known host plant is Clematis quadribracteolata [Ranunculaceae].

Distribution data

A New Zealand endemic recorded only from North Island (AK, TO).

Family name

THRIPIDAE, THRIPINAE

Species name

Thrips austellus Mound

Original name and synonyms

Thrips austellus Mound, 1978: 618.

References

Mound LA (1978) Five new species of Thripidae (Thysanoptera) endemic to New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 5: 615–222

Mound LA & Walker AK (1982) Terebrantia (Insecta: Thysanoptera). Fauna of New Zealand 1: 1–113.