Female macroptera
Antenna
Pro, meso & metanota (microptera)
Macroptera, metanotum
Tergites IV-VI
Tergites VII-IX
Male sternal pore plates
Larva II - tergites V-X
Macropterous female brown, tarsi and apices of tibiae yellow, also antennal segments I–III; fore wing with sub-basal pale band, then brown but paler toward apex. Head with occipital ridge not close to eyes; ocellar triangle with irregular markings; ocellar setae III on anterior to margins of triangle; three pairs of postocular setae, median pair long. Antennal segment III slender, sense cone short, not extending beyond basal fifth of segment IV. Pronotum densely striate, blotch anterior margin deeply emarginate. Metanotal sculpture mainly transverse, with band of microtrichia on posterior fifth. Fore wing with one seta near apex displaced onto second vein from first vein; no sub-apical lobe. Tergites I–VIII densely covered with microtrichia, and with complete posteromarginal comb. Sternites with no discal microtrichia medially, sternites III–VII with lobed craspedum medially bearing long microtrichia.
Micropterous female with wing lobe shorter than width of thorax; metanotum with microtrichia on more than half of sclerite.
Male with small circular pore plate on sternites IV–VII
Only three genera are currently recognised in the Sericothripinae (Lima & Mound, 2016), with Sericothrips comprising seven species. Six of these are found widely across the Palaearctic Region, but one is from South Africa. However, the generic classification is thought to be a poor reflection of phylogeny, and Sericothrips appears to comprise species which show some level of wing-length reduction.
Feeding and breeding on the leaves of Ulex europea [Fabaceae]; used as a biological control agent against this invasive weedy plant (Ireson et al., 2008).
Western Europe, but introduced to Hawaii and Australia (Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia)
THRIPIDAE - SERICOTHRIPINAE
Sericothrips staphylinus Haliday
Sericothrips staphylinus Haliday, 1836: 444
Ireson JE, Holloway RJ & Chatterton WS (2008) Phenology and development of the gorse thrips, Sericothrips staphylinus Haliday (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), a biological control agent for gorse, Ulex europaeus L.(Fabaceae), in Tasmania. Biological Control 45: 64–71.
Lima EFB & Mound LA (2016) Systematic relationships of the Thripidae subfamily Sericothripinae (Insecta: Thysanoptera) Zoologischer Anzeiger 263: 24–32.
Mound LA & Tree DJ (2009) Identification and host-plant associations of Australian Sericothripinae (Thysanoptera, Thripidae). Zootaxa 1983: 1–22.
ThripsWiki (2020) ThripsWiki - providing information on the World's thrips. Available from: http://thrips.info/wiki/Main_Page [accessed 29.x.2019].