stannardi female
stannardi head
stannardi antenna 
stannardi thorax & pelta
hamideae head
hamideae antenna
hamideae prosternites

Generic diagnosis

Small, usually apterous Idolothripinae with antennae 7-segmented. Head longer than wide with no ocelli; eyes reduced to between 3 and 10 facets; postocular setae long; maxillary stylets broad, retracted to postocular setae, sub-parallel medially, about one-third of head width apart; mouth cone broadly rounded, maxillary palps with large terminal sensorium. Antennae  with 7 segments, III–IV each with 2 sense cones. Pronotum with five pairs of major setae, notopleural sutures complete. Prosternal basantra weak; mesopresternum and spinasternum not developed, mesoeusternum entire; metathoracic sternopleural sutures eroded. Mesonotum transverse. Metanotum without sculpture, with one pair of prominent setae medially. Male with fore tarsal tooth, female usually without. Pelta transverse, usually with transverse line of sculpture near posterior margin; tergites II–VII with one pair of long marginal setae laterally, macropterae with one pair of wing-retaining setae; tergite IX setae usually capitate and shorter than tube; tube shorter than head with sides straight.

Nomenclatural data

Allothrips Hood, 1908: 372. Type species Allothrips megacephalus Hood, by monotypy.

Worldwide 25 species are listed in this genus (ThripsWiki, 2022), with four recorded from Australia.

Australian species
Allothrips greensladei Mound, 1972
Allothrips hamideae Mound, 2007
Allothrips prolixus Mound, 1972
Allothrips stannardi Mound, 1972

Relationship data

This genus is placed in the Idolothripinae, Pygothripini, Allothripina, and this sub-tribe includes two further genera, Minaeithrips and Priesneriella, that include species from Australia.

Distribution data

Species of this genus are found widely in the warmer parts of the world, and have been collected in Australia across the entire continent, from Darwin to Tasmania.

Biological data

Most individuals of these species are wingless and live mainly in leaf-litter, feeding by imbibing fungal spores judging from the gut contents of adults and larvae.

References

Mound LA (1972) Polytypic species of spore-feeding Thysanoptera in the genus Allothrips Hood (Phlaeothripidae). Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 11: 23–36.

Mound LA (2007) New Australian spore-feeding Thysanoptera (Phlaeothripidae – Idolothripinae). Zootaxa 1604: 53–68.