Asprothrips seminigricornisAsprothrips seminigricornisFemale fully winged. Body, legs and wings almost white, antennal segments V–VIII dark brown. Antennae 8-segmented, III & IV each with a forked sense cone, VI with a long simple sense cone. Head with minute pair of setae between hind ocelli. Pronotum without long setae. Metanotum reticulate, median setae far behind anterior margin. Metathoracic endofurca elongate and lyre-shaped. Tarsi all 2-segmented. Fore wing slender, veinal setae minute, about 4 on both veins; posteromarginal cilia wavy. Abdominal tergites with median pair of setae small; tergite VIII with posteromarginal comb of short microtrichia medially.
Eight species are known in the genus Asprothrips, all from countries between India and Australia. The genus is considered to be a member of the Dendrothripinae, because of the elongate "lyre-shaped" metathoracic furca, but differs from species of Dendrothrips in having very short setae medially on the tergites (Mound, 1999).
Larvae and adults feed on the leaves of a range of different plant species, with no evidence of any particular relationship. It was noted to be damaging the leaves of Gardenia augusta in a greenhouse at Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia, and considerable numbers were collected from the leaves of Ricinus in northern New South Wales. However, on Norfolk Island, Australia, it was found in large numbers on the leaves of various tree crops, but with no obvious damage (Mound & Wells, 2015).
Possibly originally from Australia, this species has been reported from USA (California; New York), Bermuda, and Hawaii.
THRIPIDAE - DENDROTHRIPINAE
Asprothrips seminigricornis (Girault)
Euthrips seminigricornis Girault, 1926: 2
Scirtothrips antennatus Moulton, 1937: 409
Asprothrips raui Crawford JC, 1938: 110
Mound LA (1999) Saltatorial leaf-feeding Thysanoptera (Thripidae, Dendrothripinae) in Australia and New Caledonia, with newly recorded pests of ferns, figs and mulberries. Australian Journal of Entomology 38: 257–273.
Mound LA & Wells A (2015) Endemics and adventives: Thysanoptera (Insecta) Biodiversity of Norfolk, a tiny Pacific Island. Zootaxa 3964 (2): 183–210.
