Distinguishing features

Female macroptera. Body and legs brown, tarsi and apices of fore tibiae yellow; antennal segments III–V mainly yellow, VI yellow in basal half; fore wings uniformly shaded. Antennae 7-segmented. Head with ocellar setae III arising outside triangle; postocular setae I twice as long as II & III. Pronotum with transverse markings on anterior half and about 20–24 discal setae. Mesonotum with widely spaced lines of sculpture, but no lines close to anterior campaniform sensilla. Metanotum with irregular longitudinal reticulate-striate sculpture, median setae arise close to anterior margin, campaniform sensilla absent. Fore wing first vein with 3 (or 4) setae on distal half, clavus with subterminal seta shorter than terminal seta. Abdominal tergite II with 3 lateral setae; tergite VIII comb complete but short and irregular. Sternites III–VII with 8–12 discal setae.
Male macroptera. Body brown, sternites III–VII with broadly oval pore plate and about 4 discal setae posterolaterally.

Related species

Thrips trehernei is closely related to T. physapus Linnaeus, the type species of genus Thrips from Europe. These species are very similar in structure and sculpture, but T. trehernei has abdominal tergite X more than 80 microns long, and the major setae on the body are longer than in T. physapus. The two species are most readily distinguished by the males, these being brown in T. trehernei but yellow in T. physapus. 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

Feeding and breeding in the flowers of Taraxacum vulgare [Asteraceae].

Distribution data

North America, Europe, Australia (southeastern New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory).

Family name

THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE

Species name

Thrips trehernei Priesner

Original name and synonyms

Thrips magna Priesner, 1927: 355
Thrips trehernei Priesner, 1927: 356
Thrips taraxaci Moulton, 1936: 109
Thrips hukkineni Priesner, 1937: 108.

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