This species has not been studied by the present authors, but see Cott, 1956: 154-157.
Judging from the redescription by Cott (1956), H. salicacearum differs from the other species of this genus in California in having the mid and hind tarsi as dark as the tibiae, the fore wing shaded not pale, and the metanotum reticulate. Over 100 species are listed in the genus Hoplandrothrips, of which more than 20 are described from North America, including five from California. Stannard (1968) provided a key to seven species from Illinois, and Mound & Marullo (1996) a key to 18 Neotropical species. Species concepts within this, and several other, genera of fungus-feeding thrips remain unclear, due to structural variation involving allometric growth patterns in one or both sexes.
Breeding on dead branches, and presumably feeding on unidentified fungal hyphae, particularly on dead branches of Lupinus arboreus [Fabaceae].
Recorded from California, and Oregon.
PHLAEOTHRIPIDAE, PHLAEOTHRIPINAE
Hoplandrothrips salicacearum Hood, 1942: 564
Cott HE (1956) Systematics of the suborder Tubulifera (Thysanoptera) in California. University of California, Berkeley, Publications in Entomology 13: 1–216.
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.