Distinguishing features

Female macroptera. Body dark brown, legs with tarsi and apices of tibiae yellowish; antennal segments II and V–VIII dark brown, I light brown, III–IV yellow; fore wings mainly pale; major body setae dark. Head about as long as wide, projecting weakly in front of eyes; eyes with 6 pigmented facets; ocellar setae III just anterior to hind ocelli; postocular setae III displaced behind setal row. Antennae 8-segmented, III–IV with small forked sense cone, II without microtrichia; VI not pedicellate. Pronotum with transverse anastomosing striae; posteromarginal setae slightly longer than discal setae. Metascutum irregularly reticulate, without internal wrinkles; median setae on anterior third of sclerite; campaniform sensilla present. Fore wing first vein with about 6 setae on basal half, 1 seta medially and 2 distally; second vein with about 12 setae including 1–2 basal to vein fork; clavus with about 5 veinal setae and one seta at base. Abdominal tergites laterally with small dentate microtrichia on sculpture and dentate microtrichia on posterior margin; II–VII with sculpture extending just mesad of setae S2, smooth at middle; VIII with long slender posteromarginal comb. Sternites with small dentate microtrichia along posterior margin.
Male macroptera. Similar to female; tergite VIII with long comb; IX with two pairs of short stout setae medially; sternites III–VII each with C-shaped pore plate.

Related species

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 as in A. incertus, but several species have an intermediate condition with segment VI bearing a partial and often oblique transverse suture. In structure, A. incertus is a typical grass-living species of Anaphothrips.

Biological data

Feeding on the leaves of various native grasses, but less common on introduced grasses.

Distribution data

Found widely in eastern Australia; also known from southern China (Zhang et al., 2018).

Family name

THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE

Species name

Anaphothrips incertus (Girault)

Original name and synonyms

Limothrips incertus Girault, 1929: 3

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

Zhang SM, Wang ZH, Li YJ & Mound LA (2018) One new species, two generic synonyms and eight new records of Thripidae from China (Thysanoptera). Zootaxa 4418 (4): 370-378.