Distinguishing features

Female macroptera. Body brown or sometimes bicoloured with abdomen brown and head and thorax orange yellow; antennal segment III yellow; fore wings brown with base paler. Antennae 7- or 8-segmented. Head with ocellar setae III outside ocellar triangle; postocular setae I & II subequal. Pronotum with transverse markings, one pair of midlateral setae stout, posterior sub-marginal apodeme weak. Mesonotum with lines of sculpture close to anterior campaniform sensilla. Metanotum transversely striate on anterior half, with longitudinal but more widely spaced striations on posterior half; median setae arise at anterior margin; campaniform sensilla present, rarely absent. Fore wing first vein with 3 setae on distal half; clavus with subterminal seta shorter than terminal seta. Abdominal tergite II with 4 lateral setae; tergite VIII comb complete but short and irregular; pleurotergites with no discal setae. Sternites III–VII with 12–25 discal setae.
Male macroptera. Body pale brown.

Related species

There are 33 species of Thrips genus known from Australia (Mound & Masumoto, 2005), out of a total of 296 species worldwide (ThripsWiki, 2020). Many of these species have the antennae clearly 7-segmented, whereas others have 8 segments. Some species have two complete rows of setae on the fore wing veins, whereas others have the setal row on the first vein more or less widely interrupted. Moreover, some species have sternal discal setae, whereas other species have only marginal setae on the sternites. Despite this variation, all members of Thrips genus have paired ctenidia on the tergites, and on tergite VIII these are postero-mesad to the spiracles, and they also lack ocellar setae pair I in front of the first ocellus. In contrast, Frankliniella species have ctenidia on tergite VIII antero-lateral to the spiracles, and a pair of setae is always present in front of the first ocellus. T. hawaiiensis is closely related to T. florum, as discussed by Bhatti (1999), but it is distinguished by the shorter subterminal seta on the clavus, the presence of sculpture lines near the mesonotal campaniform sensilla, and the postocular setae pair II that are almost as long as setae pair I.

Biological data

Feeding and breeding in the the flowers of many different plants, and sometimes considered a pest.

Distribution data

Widespread across Asia and the Pacific, also southern states of USA, Jamaica and Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales).

Family name

THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE

Species name

Thrips hawaiiensis (Morgan)

Original name and synonyms

Euthrips hawaiiensis Morgan, 1913: 3
Thrips sulphurea Schmutz, 1913: 1011
Thrips nigriflava Schmutz, 1913: 1012
Thrips albipes Bagnall, 1914: 25
Physothrips albipes Bagnall, 1916: 401
Physothrips pallipes Bagnall, 1916: 400
Bregmatothrips theifloris Karny, 1921: 66
Thrips versicolor Bagnall, 1926: 108
Thrips pallipes Bagnall, 1926: 110
Physothrips emersoni Girault, 1927: 2
Thrips io Girault, 1927: 351
Thrips partirufus Girault, 1927: 1
Physothrips lacteicolor Girault, 1928: 1
Physothrips marii Girault, 1928: 2
Taeniothrips eriobotryae Moulton, 1928: 297
Physothrips myobergi darci Girault, 1930: 1
Thrips imitator Priesner, 1934: 267
Taeniothrips florinatus Priesner, 1938: 489
Taeniothrips rhodomyrti Priesner, 1938: 492.

References

Bhatti JS (1999) New characters for identification of the pest species Thrips hawaiiensis and florum (Terebrantia: Thripidae). Thrips 1: 31–53.

Mound LA & Masumoto M (2005) The genus Thrips (Thysanoptera, Thripidae) in Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand. Zootaxa 1020: 1–64. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2005f/zt01020p064.pdf