
Small, apterous or macropterous and structurally undistinguished Phlaeothripinae. Head longer than wide; eyes small; maxillary stylets about 0.25 of head width apart, retracted to postocular setae; maxillary bridge absent. Antennae 8-segmented; segment III with 1 or 2 sense cones, IV with 3 sense cones; VIII slender and narrowed to base. Pronotum transverse; pronotal midlateral setae usually reduced but anteromarginal and anteroangular pairs developed; notopleural sutures incomplete or complete. Prosternal basantra present. Fore tarsus with small tooth, sometimes recurved at inner apex of tarsus. Pelta small and rounded. Tergites usually without sigmoid wing-retaining setae; tergite IX S1 setae usually longer than tube; tube shorter than head. Male sternite VIII without pore plate.
This is a particularly poorly diagnosed genus. The two species described from America, also sisakhti from Iran, have a single sense cone on antennal segment III, whereas bonessi, navarrensis and oettingeni all have two sense cones on this segment. Moreover, the notopleural sutures are incomplete in most species, but complete in sisakhti and variable in navarrensis.
Little is known of how these species live, but it is possible that one or more of them may be predatory rather than fungus-feeding.
Of the six included species, two are from eastern North America with three from Europe and the Mediterranean and one from Iran.
Hindsiothrips Stannard, 1958: 273. Type species Hindsiana pullata Hood 1925, by original designation.
This genus comprises six species (ThripsWiki, 2023). Four of these species are based only on apterae, although macropterae are also known of the type species (Stannard, 1968: 443) that was described from New York. Unfortunately, oettingeni is known only from a single macropterous female, and this is possibly the same species as bonessi (Schliephake & Klimt, 1979).
Euro-Mediterranean species
Hindsiothrips bonessi (Titschack, 1955)
Hindsiothrips navarrensis Goldarazena & Mound, 1998
Hindsiothrips oettingeni (Priesner, 1939)
Hindsiothrips sisakhti Minaei, 2013
Goldarazena A & Mound LA (1998) Hindsiothrips navarrensis sp.n. (Thysanoptera; Phlaeothripidae) from Spain, with the first record of Tylothrips osborni (Hinds) from Europe. Entomologist's monthly Magazine 134: 319–324.
Minaei K (2013) The Phlaeothrips-lineage of fungus feeding thrips (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) in Iran with a new species of Hindsiothrips. Zootaxa 3599(3): 279–290.
Schleiphake G & Klimt K (1979) Thysanoptera, Fransenflügler, in: Die Tierwelt Deutschlands 66 Teil, G.Fischer Verlag, Jena. 1–477.
Stannard LJ (1968) The Thrips, or Thysanoptera, of Illinois. Bulletin of the Illinois Natural History Survey 29: 213–552.