Aeolothrips bicolorAeolothrips bicolorBoth sexes fully winged. Body, legs and antennae brown, except antennal segment III yellow with extreme apex brown, abdominal segments II and III clear yellow; fore wings with two dark cross bands, apical ring vein pale. Antennae 9-segmented, segment III with sensorium straight and about 0.3 as long as segment, IV with straight sensorium less than 0.5 as long as segment, setment VI almost as long as VII-X.Head and pronotum with no long setae. Fore tarsus apically with stout recurved ventral hamus. Tergite I with about 7 transverse lines. Median two pairs of sternal marginal setae arising at margin, but lateral two pairs arise sub-marginally on discal area; sternite VII with two pairs of accessory setae arising almost medially on disc.
Male paler than female, but antennal segment III brownish-yellow in apical half; tergites without tubercles; tergite IX with paired claspers, but without stout curved seta lateral to clasper.
This is one of five species in western USA with the basal abdominal segments sharply yellow. It is particularly similar to A. brunneipictus in having antennal segment VI more elongate than in the other species.
Living at the base of grasses, also of Hemerocallis plants, and presumably predatory on mites or thrips larvae.
Not recorded from California, but common in Illinois (Stannard, 1968) and widespread across North America south to Florida and Mexico, and also known from Costa Rica (Mound & Marullo, 1996).
AEOLOTHRIPIDAE
Aeolothrips bicolor Hinds
Aeolothrips bicolor Hinds, 1902: 130
Mound LA & Marullo R (1996) The Thrips of Central and South America: An Introduction. Memoirs on Entomology, International 6: 1–488.
Stannard LJ (1968) The Thrips, or Thysanoptera, of Illinois. Bulletin of the Illinois Natural History Survey 29: 213–552.
