Generic diagnosis

Large sized, dark brown Idolothripinae, both sexes macropterous or micropterous, male abdomen with pair of lateral tergal tubercles. Head elongate, projecting slightly in front of eyes, genae weakly sinuate with one pair of short stout setae behind eyes; one pair of prominent postocellar setae, and 3 pairs of shorter setae on vertex (postocellar, postocular and midvertex); maxillary stylets more than 0.5 of head width apart, retracted to about the level of mid-vertex setae. Antennae 8-segmented, segment III with 2 sense cones, IV with 4 sense cones; VIII with narrow pedicel.Pronotum transverse, notopleural sutures incomplete; major setae weakly capitate, epimeral setae longer than other 4 pairs; prosternal basantra present, mesopresternum transverse. Fore tarsal tooth absent in both sexes. Fore wing broad, parallel sided, with many duplicated cilia. Pelta median lobe transverse, lateral lobes only weakly joined to median lobe; tergal wing-retaining setae absent in micropterae; tube long with prominent lateral setae. Male abdominal tergite VI laterally with paired drepanae extending beyond segment VII, tergite VIII laterally with pair of small tubercles; tube constricted in basal third, lateral margins with setae.

Relationships

This is probably an Holarctic derivative of the large, essentially Old World, tropical genus Bactrothrips, and is similarly a member of the Idolothripina, a subtribe of the Idolothripinae (Mound & Palmer, 1983).

Biology

The species feed on fungal spores, and apparently breed on dead branches of trees such as Betula and Salix (Morison, 1949).

Distribution

Of the seven species listed in this genus, the five listed below were described from southern Europe, with lativentris widespread on this continent and flavipes recorded from Iran (Hakimara et al., 2019). Of the remaining two species, one from Eastern China is possibly based on a slight variant of lativentris, and the other from California is possibly a species of Bactrothrips.

Nomenclature

Megathrips Targioni-Tozzetti, 1881: 124. Type species Megathrips piccioli Targioni-Tozzetti [synonym of Phloeothrips lativentris Heeger], by monotypy.

Seven species are listed in this genus (ThripsWiki, 2023).

Euro-Mediterranean species
Megathrips brevis (Bagnall, 1914)
Megathrips elegans (Buffa, 1908)
Megathrips flavipes (Reuter, 1901)
Megathrips inermis Priesner, 1937
Megathrips lativentris (Heeger, 1852)

References

Hakimara M, Minaei K, Sadeghi S, & Mound L (2019) Fungus-feeding thrips in Iran with a new species of Stictothrips (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae). Zootaxa 4652 (3): 557–567.

Morison GD (1949) Thysanoptera of the London Area. Part III. Supplement to London Naturalist 28: 76–131.

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.