Distinguishing features

Female macroptera. Body light brown, paler in teneral individuals; tarsi and tibiae yellowish, antennal segments I–II as dark as head, III–V mainly yellow, also base of VI; fore wings scarcely shaded. Antennae 8-segmented, III–IV with short forked sense cone. Head wider than long; vertex, excluding ocellar triangle, with sculpture lines; 3 pairs of ocellar setae, pair III shorter than longitudinal diameter of an ocellus, arising just anterior to midpoint of hind ocelli; 4 pairs of small postocular setae. Pronotum with strong transverse lines of sculpture, 2 pairs of moderately long posteroangular setae; median posteromarginal setae 1.5 times as long as remaining 3 pairs of posteromarginals. Mesonotal anterior campaniform sensilla present. Metanotum with lines of sculpture converging posteromedially; campaniform sensilla present; median setae at anterior margin. Mesofurca with spinula. Fore wing first and second veins with complete row of setae; clavus with 5 veinal and one discal setae. Tergites without craspeda; V–VII without ctenidia but with microtrichia on lines of sculpture laterally; sculpture lines extend to median setae; VIII with paired ctenidia anterolateral to spiracle, posteromarginal comb of long microtrichia with median 8 microtrichia closely spaced and directed mesad; tergite X no longer than IX. Sternites without discal setae; VII with setae S1 arising at margin.
Male macroptera. Similar to female but smaller; tergite VIII comb long, median setal pair on IX longer than sub-median pair; sternites III–VII with small transversely oval pore plate; sternite VIII posterior margin with several long microtrichia.

Related species

Species of the genus Pseudanaphothrips share many character states with species of Frankliniella, but none of them have tergal ctenidia so well-formed. Currently the genus includes nine species, all but one from Australia. However, some of these are based on very few specimens, and these remain particularly difficult to distinguish (Mound & Palmer, 1981). P. parvus is particularly similar to P. uniformis, but appears to be distinguished by the less shaded fore wings, and the shorter and paler antennal segments. In both species, ocellar setae pair III are slightly more anterior in position than in the other species in this genus. The type specimens of both species are in very poor condition. The holotype of P. nativus is a severely shrunken female on which few details can be seen, and measurements of the paratypes of P. pallipennis, described by Sakimura (1968), fall within the range of P. parvus from various localities.

Biological data

Feeding and breeding within the flowers of various Asteraceae, including Craspedia, Helipterum, Myriocephalus.

Distribution data

Known from South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and Northern Territory.

Family name

THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE

Species name

Pseudanaphothrips parvus (Bagnall)

Original name and synonyms

Pseudothrips parvus Bagnall, 1916: 222
Physothrips nativus Girault, 1929: 29
Homochaetothrips pallipennis Sakimura, 1968: 62.

References

Mound LA (2002) The Thrips and Frankliniella genus groups: the phylogenetic significance of ctenidia. Pp. 379–386 in Marullo R & Mound LA [eds] Thrips and Tospoviruses: Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Thysanoptera. Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra.