Distinguishing features

Female macroptera. Body and legs yellow, tergites II–VI with pair of brown areas anterolaterally; antennal segment I white, II–IX brown but III–IV slightly paler; major setae on abdominal tergites IX–X dark; fore wings weakly shaded. Head wider than long, reticulate behind eyes but no sculpture in ocellar triangle; eyes with 6 pigmented facets; ocellar setae III on anterior margins of triangle. Antennae 9-segmented, III–IV with small forked sense cone; II without microtrichia; VI unusually short and narrowed to base but not pedicellate. Pronotum with irregular sculpture lines. Metascutum irregularly reticulate, median setae not at anterior margin; campaniform sensilla absent. Fore wing setae small, first vein with about 9 setae basally, 2 medially and 2 distally; second vein with 8–9 setae; clavus with 6 veinal but no discal setae. Abdominal tergites III–VI with no sculpture medially; lateral sculpture lines not extending mesad of setae S2; lateral lines with dentate microtrichia, extending mesad on VII–VIII; posteromarginal comb on VIII with about 10 short fine microtrichia medially but usually none laterally; spiracles slightly enlarged; X with complete dorsal split; major setae on IX–X stout with chisel-shaped apices. Sternites with dentate microtrichia laterally on sculpture lines.
Male macroptera. Similar to but smaller than female; tergite IX with 2 pairs of short stout setae medially; sternites III–VII with small C-shaped pore plate, reduced to a curve on VII.

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, but several species have an intermediate condition with segment VI bearing a partial and often oblique transverse suture. A. westringiae has the posteromarginal comb on tergite VIII similar to that of A. geleznowiae, but the Western Australian species has metascutal campaniform sensilla present, long setaceous setae on tergite IX in females, and males with large C-shaped pore plates.

Biological data

Feeding on the leaves of Westringia fruticosa [Lamiaceae].

Distribution data

Recorded only from Australian Capital Territory.

Family name

THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE

Species name

Anaphothrips westringiae Mound & Masumoto

Original name and synonyms

Anaphothrips westringiae Mound & Masumoto, 2009: 55.

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