Generic diagnosis

Female macropterous. Head wider than long, transversely striate; maxillary palps long, 3-segmented; eyes without pigmented facets; ocellar setae I absent; setae III small and close together within triangle; five pairs of postocular setae. Antennae 8-segmented; segment I without paired dorso-apical setae; III and IV with apex slightly elongate, sense cones long and forked; II with microtrichial rows dorsally, III–VI with rows of microtrichia on both surfaces. Pronotum transversely striate, with no long setae. Mesonotal median setae distant from posterior margin; anteromedian campaniform sensilla absent. Metanotum with transverse and longitudinal sculpture; median pair of setae at anterior margin; campaniform sensilla absent. Fore wing first vein with three widely spaced setae on distal half; second vein without setae; clavus with three veinal and one discal setae; posteromarginal fringe cilia straight. Prosternal ferna slender but not quite connected medially; basantra membranous, without setae; prospinasternum very slender and transverse. Meso and metafurca with spinula. Tarsi 2-segmented. Tergites with setae S1 wide apart and close to S2; lateral thirds of tergites with closely spaced rows of microtrichia; VII and VIII with posteromarginal comb of long fine microtrichia; IX without campaniform sensilla; X without split. Sternites III–VI with many rows of microtrichia across entire surface, but only on lateral thirds of VII; setae S1 on VII submarginal.
Male similar to female; sternites without pore plates; tergite IX without drepanae or stout setae.

Biological data

Often associated with the leaves of cassava (Manihot esculenta) [Euphorbiaceae] but also with leaves of Taro (Colocasia esculenta) [Araceae], although adults recorded from several other unrelated plant species (Mound et al., 2017).

Distribution data

Widely reported across southeast Asia from India to some Pacific Islands including Hawaii (Mound et al., 2017).

Nomenclatural data

Biltothrips Bhatti, 1973: 438. Type species Sericothrips minutus Bhatti 1967, by monotypy.

Only two species are known in this genus (ThripsWiki, 2020), and one of these is recorded from China:

minutus (Bhatti, 1967: 10). (Sericothrips)

Relationship data

Thripidae sub-family Thripinae: this is a diverse group involving more than 230 genera. Biltothrips is closely related to Scirtothrips, differing in the more widely spaced median setae on the tergites (Ng & Mound, 2016).

References

Li YY, Li ZY & Zhang HR (2017) One genus and two species of Thripinae newly recorded afrom China (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Annals of Biological Sciences 5 (2): 54–57.

Mound LA, Matsunaga J, Bushe B, Hoddle MS & Wells A (2017) Adventive Thysanoptera Species on the Hawaiian Islands: New Records and Putative Host Associations. Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society 49: 17-28.

Ng FY & Mound LA (2016) Two new species of Scirtothrips genus-group (Thripidae) of Northern Peninsular Malaysia. Zootaxa 4088 (1): 141–145.

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