
angusticeps Female (mic.)
angusticeps Head & pronotum
angusticeps Pelta (mac.)
angusticeps Pelta (mic.)
angusticeps Antenna
angusticeps Microptera
angusticeps Prosternites
Small pale micropterous or macropterous Phlaeothripinae. Head elongate, postocular setae well-developed; compound eyes in micropterae reduced to about 6 facets; maxillary stylets retracted to eyes, close together medially. Antennae 8-segmented, III–VIII all pedicillate, III and IV each with 3 sense cones, VIII long and slender. Pronotum almost smooth, with 5 pairs of long capitate setae; notopleural sutures weakly complete. Prosternal basantra absent, ferna transverse, mesopresternum reduced to pair of weak triangles; metathoracic sternopleural sutures absent. Metanotum without sculpture lines. Fore tarsal tooth present in male, absent in female. Fore wing slender, weakly constricted medially, with 4 to 6 duplicated cilia. Pelta broadly D-shaped; tergites II–VII each with 2 pairs of sigmoid wing-retaining setae, these are small and straight in micropterae; tergal lateral setae long and capitate, on IX acute and as long as tube. Males vary greatly in body size; sternite VIII with small transversely oval pore plate.
This genus is closely related to the Phlaeothripinae genus Hoplothrips, but the only species has unusually long maxillary stylets, and there are three sense cones on antennal segment III as well as on segment IV.
The only species placed in this genus is fungus-feeding and varies considerably - in body size as well as between winged and wingless adults. This structural variation has given rise to seven species synonyms and two generic synonyms for this single species (ThripsWiki, 2023). Colonies comprising many individuals can sometimes develop on dead branches.
Recorded by Priesner (1965) from Egypt under the name ferecaecus, this species was described originally from Illinois. There are seven recognised synonyms that are based on specimens that came from Florida, Hawaii, South America, Australia and Indonesia. A substantial colony has been studied from Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean (Mound, 2019).
Pygmaeothrips Karny, 1920: 40. Type species Pygmaeothrips columniceps Karny, 1920, by monotypy; a synonym of Trichothrips angusticeps Hood.
This genus includes a single unusual species (ThripsWiki, 2023)
Euro-Mediterranean species
Pygmaeothrips angusticeps (Hood, 1908)
Mound LA (2019) Thrips (Thysanoptera) of the Australian Territory of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. Australian Entomologist 46 (4): 167-170.
Mound LA & Tree DJ (2022) Tubulifera Australiensis – Thysanoptera-Phlaeothripidae genera in Australia. Lucidcentral.org, Identic Pty Ltd, Queensland, Australia. <https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v4/thrips/tubulifera/>
Priesner, H (1965) A monograph of the Thysanoptera of the Egyptian deserts. Publications de l’Institut Desert d’Egypte 13: 1–549. [Published in 1965, the front cover of the volume bears the date 1960 whereas the back cover indicates 1964. The manuscript went to the publisher on 1st October 1951 - teste Herman Priesner to Laurence Mound at Linz, Austria, in 1966]
ThripsWiki (2023). ThripsWiki - providing information on the World's thrips. <http://thrips.info/wiki/Main_Page>