Gynaikothrips uzeliGynaikothrips uzeliBoth sexes fully winged. Body brown, tarsi and apices of tibiae yellow, also antennal segments III–VII largely yellow, VIII light brown; fore wings pale. Antennae 8-segmented; segment III with one sense cone, IV with 3 sense cones. Head longer than wide, slightly constricted behind eyes; postocular setae with apices bluntly pointed, scarcely extending to posterior margin of eye; maxillary stylets retracted almost to postocular setae, about one third of head width apart. Pronotum with major setae variable; anteromarginals minute, anteroangulars and midlaterals usually about half as long as the elongate posteroangulars and epimerals; epimeral sutures often not complete. Fore tarsus with small or minute tooth. Metanotum longitudinally reticulate. Fore wing parallel sided, with about 15 duplicated cilia. Pelta broadly triangular; tergites II–VII with two pairs of sigmoid wing-retaining setae; tergite IX setae S1 about 0.8 as long as tube.
Male smaller than female; no fore tarsal tooth; tergite IX setae S2 short and stout.
Almost 40 species are listed in the genus Gynaikothrips, mainly from Southeast Asia. However, the genus remains poorly defined, and species recognition is difficult. G. uzeli is particularly similar to G. ficorum, but has the pronotal posteroangular setae long as well as the epimeral setae. G. uzeli has been reported from Texas and California (Boyd & Held, 2006). Populations from Ficus galls in the Asian tropics sometimes show considerable variation in the lengths of the pronotal setae, such that distinction between species remains uncertain.
Breeding within rolled-leaf galls,and apparently specific to Ficus benjiamina [Moraceae]. Tree et al. (2015) discussed host specificity of this thrips.
Widespread across the Oriental region to northern Australia and New Caledonia; introduced to the southern parts of USA including California (Boyd & Held, 2006), also some latin American countries including the Galapagos Islands, Brazil and Argentina.
PHLAEOTHRIPIDAE, PHLAEOTHRIPINAE
Gynaikothrips uzeli (Zimmermann)
Mesothrips uzeli Zimmermann, 1900: 12
Phloeothrips longitubus Bagnall, 1909: 534
Gynaikothrips garitacambroneroi Retana, 2006: 6.
Boyd DW & Held DW (2006) Androthrips ramachandrai (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae): an introduced thrips in the United States. Florida Entomologist 89 (4): 455–458.
Tree DJ, Mound LA & Field AR (2015) Host specificity studies on Gynaikothrips (Thysanoptera:Phlaeothripidae) associated with leaf galls of cultivated Ficus (Rosales: Moraceae) trees. Florida Entomologist 98(3): 880–883.
