Dactuliothrips ephedraDactuliothrips ephedraBoth sexes fully winged. Color brown, fore tibiae and tarsi lighter; fore wings light brown; major setae dark brown; antennae dark, segment III pale with apex dark, segment II paler distally. Head longer than wide, reticulate striate without microtrichia; ocellar setae III longer than setae I and II; bases of ocellar setae III inside ocellar triangle; postocular setae I and III longer than the other postocular setae. Antennae 9-segmented; III & IV each with two emergent sensoria at apex, one elongate but the other relatively oval. Head relatively long with 2 pairs of long postocular setae. Pronotum reticulate striate; five pairs of major setae on anterior margin, six longer pairs on posterior margin. Mesonotum with fine microtrichia on posterior three-quarters. Metanotum reticulate arcuate, covered with microtrichia anteromedially, with one pair of setae on anterior margin. Fore femur thickened, with 4–6 heavy spurs on inner anterior margin. Fore wing broad with apex rounded. Tergites with faint transverse reticulation with microtrichia laterally. Sternites with microtrichia, with 3–6 discal setae; sternite VII with three pairs of posteromarginal setae and two pairs of smaller accessory setae aligned with the posteromarginal setae.
Male similar to female but smaller; tergite I with paired longitudinal ridges not reaching anterior margin, sternites without discal setae.
Two of the five species of Dactuliothrips known from California have antennal segment III dark brown, but this segment is largely yellow in ephedra, spinosus and xerophilus. The pronotum of ephedra was described as lacking microtrichia, in contrast to the other two species, and the sensoria on antennal segments III and IV were stated to be rather more elongate than in spinosus. Currently there are nine species described in this genus, of which four are from Argentina.
Collected from Ephedra sp. [Ephedraceae], and presumably breeding in flowers.
Known from a single sample taken at Joshua Tree, California.
AEOLOTHRIPIDAE
Dactuliothrips ephedra Pereyra & de Borbon
Dactuliothrips ephedra Pereyra & de Borbon, 2013: 4
Pereyra V & de Borbon CM (2013) The American genus Dactuliothrips (Thysanoptera: Aeolothripidae) with three new species. Zootaxa 3734 (1): 001–014.
