Print Fact SheetLissothrips

Generic diagnosis

Small, apterous, usually dark brown Phlaeothripinae with antennal segment III unusually small. Head scarcely longer than wide, very slightly extended in front of eyes, ocelli absent; genae weakly convex; vertex with weak or no sculpture; eyes small, narrowed ventrally; postocular setae long, pointed to capitate; maxillary stylets varied, usually retracted to postocular setae, less than one-fifth to one third of head width apart; maxillary bridge usually not visible; mouth cone not elongate. Antennae 8-segmented; segment III with no sense cones, IV with 2 or 3 sense cones; VIII slender and narrowed to base (rarely close to VII). Pronotum with almost no sculpture; usually with five pairs of capitate major setae; notopleural sutures usually incomplete but sometimes complete. Prosternal basantra present but often reduced; ferna large; mesopresternum varied, from fully transverse to greatly eroded; metathoracic sternopleural sutures usually not developed. Mesonotum usually with minute wing lobe bearing one or two setae;  metanotum transverse, without sculpture. Fore tarsal tooth present or absent; femora not armed. Pelta wider than long; tergites without wing-retaining setae; tube short, rather stout; tergite IX setae often longer than tube. Male tergite IX S2 setae shorter and stouter than S1 setae; sternite VIII without pore plate.

Relationships

The single species listed here from Iran is paler in colour and with a rather larger third antennal segment than typical members of this genus that live in tropical countries. These species are often found with Williamsiella species in mosses, but the two genera are probably not closely related. Lissothrips is probably independently derived within the Phlaeothrips-lineage, in association with mosses - an unusual host association. Relationships are difficult to determine because of the weak sclerotisation of many sclerites, the reduced number of antennal sense cones, and the remarkable variation in character states between many of the species listed in the genus - a recurrent problem amongst Phlaeothripinae (Mound, 2024).

Biology

The species in this genus are usually found in association with mosses.

Distribution

This genus appears to be pantropical in distribution (Mound & Tree, 2015), with one species described from Iran.

Nomenclature

Lissothrips Hood, 1908: 365. Type species Lissothrips muscorum Hood, 1908, by monotypy.

Twenty-four species are listed in this genus (ThripsWiki 2023).

Euro-Mediterranean species
Lissothrips hemingi Minaei & Mound 2020

References

Mound LA (2024) A further Phlaeothripidae species with blue-green gut contents (Thysanoptera). Australian Entomologist 51 (1): 56–60.

Mound LA & Tree DJ (2015) Species of Lissothrips and Williamsiella from mosses and lichens in Australia and New Zealand (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripinae) Zootaxa 3946 (3): 361–373.

Minaei K & Mound LA (2020) Thysanoptera host-plant associations, with an account of species living on Tamarix, and a new species of Lissothrips (Phlaeothripidae). Zootaxa 4868 (2): 275–283.

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