Generic diagnosis

Medium to large, usually macropterous Idolothripinae. Head usually longer than wide, slightly produced in front of eyes; postocular setae elongate, postocellar setae short or long; genae almost straight to weakly convex or sinuate, with a few short setae. Eyes rather small, less than 0.3 of head length; mouth-cone short and rounded; maxillary stylets often retracted to postocular setae or compound eyes, wide apart, V-shaped or subparallel. Antennae 8-segmented; segment III with 2 sense-cones, IV with 4 or even 5. Pronotum shorter than head, usually with median longitudinal apodeme; notopleural sutures complete. Prosternal basantra, ferna and mesopresternum present; metathoracic sternopleural sutures absent. Fore tarsal tooth present in males, present or absent in females; fore tibia often with tubercle at inner apex. Fore wings with duplicated cilia. Pelta broad with lateral wings narrow to broadly entire; tergites II–VII each with one pair of sigmoid wing-retaining setae. Tube variable, usually with straight sides, often rather convex and robust; anal setae shorter than tube.

Nomenclatural data

Liothrips (Ethirothrips) Karny, 1925: 133. Type species Liothrips thomasseti Bagnall (=Phlaeothrips stenomelas Walker), by subsequent designation of Priesner, 1949: 129.

There are 37 species listed in this genus, all from the Old World tropics (ThripsWiki, 2022).

Australian species
Ethirothrips acanthus (Hood, 1919: 88).
Ethirothrips australiensis (Moulton, 1968: 95).
Ethirothrips barretti (Mound, 1974: 94).
Ethirothrips distasmus (Mound, 1974: 97).
Ethirothrips dracon (Karny, 1920: 43).
Ethirothrips elephas (Karny, 1920: 43).
Ethirothrips giraulti (Hood, 1918: 148).
Ethirothrips io (Girault, 1926: 1).
Ethirothrips latapennis (Moulton, 1968: 119).
Ethirothrips stenomelas (Walker, 1859: 224).
Ethirothrips sybarita (Mound, 1974: 100).

Relationship data

This is the largest of the 13 genera in the Idolothripinae, Pygothripini, Macrothripina. There is considerable variation in size and body form among the included species, and Herathrips is presumably closely related.

Distribution data

Although australiensis lives along the coast of South Australia, the other species of this genus are mainly from the northern tropics and subtropics, with stenomelas widely recorded around the world in tropical areas.

Biological data

The species in this genus all feed on fungal spores on the dead branches of various trees, with australiensis found on dead Eucalyptus branches and stenomelas often associated with dead fronds of coconut palm trees.

References

Mound LA (1974) Spore-feeding Thrips (Phlaeothripidae) from Leaf Litter and Dead Wood in Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology. Supplement 27: 1–106.

Mound LA & Palmer JM (1983) The generic and tribal classification of spore-feeding Thysanoptera (Phlaeothripidae: Idolothripinae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology 46: 1–174.

ThripsWiki (2022) ThripsWiki - providing information on the World's thrips. Available from: http://thrips.info/wiki/ (Accessed 15.iii.2022)