Trichromothrips cyperaceaeTrichromothrips cyperaceaeFemale fully winged. Body yellow, abdominal apex and distal antennal segments light brown; fore wings pale. Antennae 8-segmented; segment I with a pair of small dorso-apical setae; segments III & IV each with a small slender forked sense cone. Head wider than long; 2 pairs of ocellar setae, pair III longer than width of eye; one small tubercle on inter-antennal projection; ocellar region with no sculpture, vertex with a few transverse lines. Pronotum without sculpture; 2 pairs of long posteroangular setae, 2 pairs of posteromarginal setae. Metanotum without sculpture; median setae far back from anterior margin; no campaniform sensilla. Fore wing first vein with 2 setae on distal half; second vein with about 12 setae. Abdominal tergites with weak sculpture lines laterally; tergite VIII with no marginal comb; tergite X with no longitudinal split. Sternites III–VII with 6–12 discal setae.
The genus Trichromothrips includes worldwide a total of 38 species (Masumoto & Okajima, 2005; Li et al., 2019), including species that at one time were placed in the genus Dorcadothrips. A second species recorded from California, T. xanthius (Williams), can be distinguished by the presence laterally on abdominal sternites V & VI of paired dark, coarsely-grained areas of sculpture. T. xanthius is apparently associated with orchids (Bhatti, 2000).
Breeding on Cyperus rotundus [Cyperaceae] (Bhatti, 2000).
A substantial population was found on Cyperus near Riverside, California, but the species is also recorded from Bermuda and Hawaii (Mound et al., 2016).
THRIPIDAE - THRIPINAE
Trichromothrips cyperaceae (Bianchi)
Taeniothrips cyperaceae Bianchi, 1945: 283
Bhatti JS (2000) Revision of Trichromothrips and related genera (Terebrantia: Thripidae). Oriental Insects 34: 1–65.
Li YJ, Li ZY & Zhang HR (2019) Trichromothrips genus-group (Thysanoptera, Thripidae) from China, with descriptions of three new species and ten new records. Zootaxa 4544 (1): 079–092.
Mound L, Nakahara S & Tsuda DM (2016) Thysanoptera-Terebrantia of the Hawaiian Islands: an identification manual. ZooKeys 549: 71–126.
