Female macropterous; body bicoloured, mainly yellow with abdominal segments V & VI and coxae brown; antennal segments I–IV yellow, head and pronotum faintly shaded; fore wing pale with 3 light brown bands. Antennae 8-segmented, III with 1 sensorium, IV with 2 sensoria. Head as wide as long, without long postocular setae; ventrally with labrum and clypeus fused together. Pronotum with only 2 pairs of major setae; prosternal ferna large. Fore tarsus without tooth. Mesonotum with no sculpture medially. Fore wing narrow but swollen at base, without duplicated cilia. Pelta weakly sclerotised, tergites II–VII each with 1 pair of sigmoid wing-retaining setae but these arise near the midline and are directed posteriorly; tergite IX setae S1 & S2 capitate; tube shorter than head.
Male similar in colour to female; fore femur with stout spur on inner margin, fore tarsus with small pointed tooth, fore tibia with about 3 small tubercles on inner margin. Tergite IX setae similar to female, sternite VIII without pore plate.
There is only one species in this genus. The form of the head, with the labrum fused to the clypeus without any trace of a membrane or suture between them (Bhatti, 1998), has not been reported for any other thrips.
Aleurodothrips fasciapennis (Franklin)
Phlaeothripidae, Phlaeothripinae
Predatory on the larvae of scale insects and whitefly (Palmer & Mound, 1991).
Found on many different plants that are infested by scale insects.
None
None - a useful biocontrol agent.
Possibly southern China.
Widespread in tropical and subtropical countires; likely to be intercepted in quarantine at California.