Distinguishing features

Female macroptera. Body, legs and antennae brown, tarsi yellow also apices of tibiae and base of antennal segment III; fore wings weakly shaded, base pale. Antennae 8-segmented. Head relatively elongate; ocellar setae III short, arising just within triangle; postocular setae I almost as long as side of ocellar triangle, III and V twice as long as II and IV. Pronotum without sculpture lines, 12–16 discal setae present each about as long as postocular setae I; postero-angular setae more than 0.5 as long as median length of pronotum. Fore tarsus with prominent pretarsal claw. Mesonotum with no sculpture lines near anterior campaniform sensilla. Metanotum with irregular longitudinal reticulations or striae; median setae just behind anterior margin, campaniform sensilla present. Fore wing first vein with 20 setae in complete row, second vein with 16 setae; clavus with terminal and subterminal setae subequal. Tergite II with 4 lateral marginal setae; tergites IV–VI each with no lines of sculpture extending mesad of setae S2; ctenidia on VIII terminating close to spiracle anterior to setae S3; tergite VIII with posteromarginal comb complete. Sternites and pleurotergites with no discal setae.
Male not known.

Related species

This species is closely related to the Western Australian T. seticollis, which has a similar large pretarsal claw on the fore tarsus. However, in T. tomeus the head is more slender, the antennae darker, and the metanotum less closely striate. 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.

Biological data

Possibility living on a species of Epacridaceae.

Distribution data

Known only from the Australian Capital Territory.

Family name

THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE

Species name

Thrips tomeus Mound & Masumoto

Original name and synonyms

Thrips tomeus Mound & Masumoto, 2005: 52.

References

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