Female apterous. Head slightly prolonged anteriorly; maxillary palps 3-segmented; eyes with five weakly pigmented facets; ocelli absent; ocellar setae I present, II lateral to I. Antennae 8- or 9-segmented, segment VI with incomplete or complete transverse suture, I without paired dorso-apical setae, III and IV with sense-cones simple. Pronotum with no long setae, but one pair at posterior angles stouter but not conspicuous. Prosternal ferna undivided; basantra membranous without setae. Mesonotum without campaniform sensilla anteromedially. Metanotum without campaniform sensilla. Prosternal ferna not divided; basantra membranous. Mesosternum with sternopleural sutures reaching anterior margin. Meso and metasternal furca without spinula. Tarsi 2-segmented. Abdomen wider than thorax; tergites I–VIII with broad craspedum, median campaniform sensilla close to posterior margin, without ctenidia; VIII without posteromarginal comb; tergite IX usually with two pairs of campaniform sensilla, MD setae small; X with median split complete. Sternites with lobed posteromarginal craspeda, without discal setae, III–VII with three pairs of marginal setae, II with two pairs; VII with S1 setae in front of posterior margin, without craspeda between these setae.
Male similar to female; glandular opening between sternites II–III; tergite IX with two pairs of spine-like setae.
Although usually associated with Poaceae, one of the two species in this genus, apteris, has been reported in California particularly from Erigeron glaucis [Asteraceae], and in parts of Australia and New Zealand from Medicago sativa [Fabaceae] (Mound & Marullo, 1996).
Of the two species, secticornis was probably Holarctic originally, whereas apteris was originally from the coastal region of southwestern USA. Both species have been recorded from China, Inner Mongolia (Hu & Feng, 2011).
Apterothrips Bagnall, 1908: 185. Type species Apterothrips subreticulata Bagnall, 1908, synonym of Thrips secticornis Trybom, 1896, by monotypy.
This genus includes only two species (ThripsWiki, 2020), both of which are recorded from China:
apteris (Daniel, 1904: 295). (Sericothrips)
secticornis (Trybom, 1896: 620). (Thrips)
Thripidae sub-family Thripinae: this is a diverse group involving more than 230 genera. This genus is one of 40 in the Anaphothrips group of genera (Masumoto & Okajima, 2017). The two species in the genus were first distinguished by Nakahara (1988), and are interesting for the difference in the number of lobes of the sternal craspeda.
Hu QL & Feng JN (2011) Two newly recorded genera of the subfamily Thripidae Stephens,1829 from China with revision of genus Apterothrips Bagnall. Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 36 (4): 865–870.
Mound LA & Marullo R (1996) The Thrips of Central and South America: An Introduction. Memoirs on Entomology, International 6: 1–488.
Nakahara S (1988) A new synonym and revised status in Apterothrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 90: 508-509.
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