Distinguishing features

Female macroptera. Body and legs yellow with light brown markings on pterothorax, and laterally on abdominal segments II–VI; antennal segment I white, II and V–IX dark brown, III–IV light brown; fore wing weakly shaded medially. Head wider than long, slightly produced at anterior over antennal segment I; area behind eyes with transverse reticulation, ocellar triangle with weak reticulation; eyes with 6 weakly pigmented facets; ocellar setae III close together within triangle. Antennae 9-segmented, III–IV sense cone forked; II with some short microtrichia near apex; VI not pedicellate. Pronotum almost without sculpture, with no long setae. Metascutum weakly and irregularly reticulate, median setae arise almost medially, campaniform sensilla present; metascutellum reticulate. Fore wing veinal setae short; first vein with about 6 setae near base, 2 setae distally; second vein with about 8 setae; clavus with 6–7 veinal setae plus one seta at base. Abdominal tergites with weak transverse reticulation medially; VI–VII setae S3 similar in size to S4; VIII with no posteromarginal comb, spiracular area occupying more than half of tergal lateral margin; tergite X short.
Female aptera. Similar to macroptera; antennal segment II without microtrichia; ocelli absent or weakly developed; ocellar setae III sometimes more widely apart; mesonotum and metascutum transverse.
Male aptera. Similar to female; tergite IX with 2 pairs of short stout setae medially; sternites III–VII medially with small oval pore plate.
Larva II. Major setae with broadly expanded, fringed apices; tergite IX without either posteromarginal coloured band or teeth, tergite X with dark posteromarginal band.

Related species

Females of A. cucurbiti have a very large spiracular area laterally on tergite VIII. There are 43 species of Anaphothrips known from Australia (Mound & Masumoto, 2009), out of a total of 86 species worldwide (ThripsWiki, 2020). Many of these species have the antennae clearly 9-segmented, others clearly have only 8 segments, but several species have an intermediate condition with segment VI bearing a partial and often oblique transverse suture. The pronotal setae are short, and the fore wing clavus has no discal seta.

Biological data

Feeding and breeding on the young leaves of Bursaria spinosa [Pittosporaceae].

Distribution data

Recorded from New South Wales, ACT and Victoria.

Family name

THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE

Species name

Anaphothrips cucurbiti Pitkin

Original name and synonyms

Anaphothrips cucurbiti Pitkin, 1978: 356.

References

Mound LA & Masumoto M (2009) Australian Thripinae of the Anaphothrips genus-group (Thysanoptera), with three new genera and thirty-three new species. Zootaxa 2042: 1–76. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2009/f/zt02042p076.pdf