Generic diagnosis

Small sized, apterous Phlaeothripinae with tergite X elongate. Head little longer than wide, dorsal surface sculptured, anterior margin sometimes slightly produced but without prominent setae, eyes reduced to 10 facets or less; mouth cone short, maxillary stylets retracted almost to eyes, one third of head width apart, with maxillary bridge. Antennal segments varying from 5 to 8, III‒V sometimes fused, VII‒VIII usually fused. Pronotum rugose, notopleural sutures absent, only epimeral setae prominent. Prosternal basantra small and widely separated, ferna large; mesopresternum weak or absent; mesoeusternal anterior margin eroded medially; metathoracic sternopleural sutures absent. Metathoracic epimera slightly swollen. Hind coxae more widely separated than mid coxae. Fore tarsal tooth absent, rarely with laterally projecting hamus. Abdominal tergite I transverse; abdominal segment IX longer than wide, without prominent setae; tube long but shorter than head; anal setae longer than tube.

Nomenclatural data

Urothrips Bagnall, 1909: 126. Type species Urothrips paradoxus Bagnall, 1909, by monotypy.

Three genera are placed in synonymy with Urothrips, including Biconothrips that was described from Australia, and as a result 12 species are now recognised in this genus (ThripsWiki, 2022).

Australian species
Urothrips reedi (Stannard, 1970: 121)

Relationship data

This is one of the genera of long-tailed thrips placed in the Phlaeothripinae-Urothripini, but the included species involve a wide range of body form and length of the tenth abdominal segment (Ulitzka & Mound, 2014).

Distribution data

The 12 species recognised in this genus are found widely across the Old World tropics with one species in eastern Australia.

Biological data

The members of this genus are all fungus-feeding in leaf litter.

References

Mound LA (1972) Species complexes and the generic classification of leaf-litter thrips of the Tribe Urothripini (Phlaeothripidae). Australian Journal of Zoology 20: 83–103.

Ulitzka MR & Mound LA (2014) New generic synonyms in the Palaeotropical genus Urothrips (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripinae) with one new species from Seychelles. Zootaxa 3755 (6): 595–600.

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