Scirtothrips ewartiScirtothrips ewartiBoth sexes fully winged. Body yellow, abdominal tergites with antecostal ridge grey; antennal segment I pale, II–VIII grey; major setae brown; fore wings pale. Antennae 8-segmented; III & IV each with forked sense cone. Head wider than long, cheeks constricted to base, mouth cone extending between fore coxae; ocellar region apparently without sculpture, postocular region transversely striate; 3 pairs of ocellar setae present, pair III close together between anterior margins of hind ocelli. Pronotum with closely spaced sculpture lines; posterior margin with four pairs of setae, S2 prominent and about 45 microns long. Metanotum apparently weakly reticulate medially; median setae wide apart and far back from anterior margin; no campaniform sensilla. Fore wing first vein with 3 setae on distal half, second vein with 4 widely spaced setae; posteromarginal cilia wavy. Abdominal tergites III–VI median setae small, not close together; II–VIII with lateral thirds covered in closely spaced rows of fine microtrichia, these microtrichial fields with 4 discal setae, posterior margin with fine comb; tergite VIII comb complete, lateral discal microtrichia extend medially across anterior half; tergite IX with several rows of discal microtrichia. Sternites without discal setae; no microtrichia across the median area; posterior margins without microtrichia.
Male smaller than female; tergite IX without paired drepanae; hind femora without comb-like row of stout setae; sternites without pore plates.
This species is apparently similar to the little known Californian species, S. albus, in having an unusually long mouth cone. It differs from the common yellow species in California, S. citri, in having the pronotal posteroangular setae considerably longer. The major character state on which it is distinguished, the length of the mouth cone, is particularly difficult to evaluate because it is so dependent on the degree of compression of a slide mounted specimen forcing the mouth cone into a posterior position. None of the available slide-mounted paratype specimens are sufficiently well-prepared for satisfactory photomicrography. The genus Scirtothrips currently includes 100 listed species from various parts of the world. Bailey (1964) provided keys to 13 from North America, but that work was based on specimens that were not fully cleared, and thus few structural details were available concerning differences between species. The identity and validity of certain of the species from California, including S. ewarti, requires further study based on freshly mounted, fully cleared specimens. Similarly, Johansen & Mojica-Guzman (1999) provided keys to 37 species from Mexico, but Hoddle et al. (2008) recognised five of these as synonyms of S. perseae, and Mound & Hoddle (2016) placed a further 15 as synonyms of S. citri. Hoddle & Mound (2003) provided information on 21 Scirtothrips species from Australia, and Rugman-Jones et al. (2006) produced a molecular key to several pest species in this genus.
Presumably breeding on leaves, with adults collected from three desert-living, native plant species in three different families, Tetracoccus [Euphorbiaceae], Larrea [Zygophyllaceae] and Simmondsia [Simmondsiaceae].
Recorded only from California.
THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE
Scirtothrips ewarti Bailey
Scirtothrips ewarti Bailey, 1964: 341
Bailey SF (1964) A revision of the genus Scirtothrips Shull (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Hilgardia 35: 329–362.
Johansen RM, Mojica-Guzman A (1999) The genus Scirtothrips Shull, 1909 (Thysanoptera: Thripidae, Sericothripini), in Mexico. Folia Entomologica Mexicana 104: 23–108.
Hoddle MS, Mound LA, Rugman-Jones PF & Stouthamer R (2008) Synonomy of five Scirtothrips species (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) described from Avocados (Persea americana) in Mexico. Florida Entomologist 91: 16–21.
Mound L & Hoddle M (2016) Scirtothrips species (Thysanoptera, Thripidae) described from mango, Mangifera indica, in Mexico. Florida Entomologist 99 (4):759–764.
Rugman Jones PF, Hoddle MS, Mound LA, & Stouthamer R (2006) Molecular identification key for pest species of Scirtothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Journal of Economic Entomology 99: 1813–1819.
