Frankliniella fuscicaudaFrankliniella fuscicaudaBoth sexes fully winged. Body yellow with abdominal segments VIII–X increasingly brown; major setae light brown; antennal segment II brown, III shaded near apex, IV–V brown in apical half; fore wing pale. Antennae 8-segmented, III & IV each with a forked sense cone, pedicel of segment III slightly swollen, VIII slightly longer than VII. Head wider than long; three pairs of ocellar setae present, pair III arising on anterior margins of ocellar triangle; postocular setae pair I present, pair IV longer than diameter of one hind ocellus. Pronotum with 5 pairs of major setae; anteromarginal setae scarcely shorter than anteroangulars, one pair of minor setae present medially between posteromarginal submedian setae. Metanotum with 2 pairs of setae at anterior margin, campaniform sensilla present. Fore wing with 2 complete rows of veinal setae. Abdominal tergites V–VIII with paired ctenidia, on VIII anterolateral to spiracle; tergite VIII posteromarginal comb with widely spaced slender microtrichia on triangular bases laterally, but these are very small or apparently absent medially. Sternites III–VII without discal setae.
Male smaller than female, body yellow; sternites III–VII with small oval pore plate.
F. fuscicauda is possibly related to F. tritici, judging from the slightly swollen pedicel on the third antennal segment, but the bicolored abdomen is apparently distinctive. There are almost 240 species listed in the genus Frankliniella, with up to 130 further names placed into synonymy (Nakahara, 1997). This high rate of synonymy has been due to unrecognized variability in size and color of so many species. Scarcely ten of these species are native to parts of the world other than the Americas.
Probably breeding in flowers, but the only available specimens were recorded as having been "swept".
Known only from California.
THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE
Frankliniella fuscicauda Hood
Frankliniella fuscicauda Hood, 1927: 197
Nakahara S (1997) Annotated list of the Frankliniella species of the world (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Contributions on Entomology, International 2 (4): 355–389.
