Print Fact SheetTreherniella

Generic diagnosis

Macropterous Phlaeothripinae with body, legs and antennae dark brown. Head with  some transverse sculpture lines, very slightly produced in front of eyes; genae weakly convex behind large eyes; postocular setae long; maxillary stylets retracted to postocular setae, scarcely one-fifth of head width apart with maxillary bridge; mouth cone short and broadly rounded. Antennae 8-segmented, III and IV each with with 3 sense cones; VIII slender but scarcely narrowed to base. Pronotum smooth, with 4 pairs of long softly pointed major setae, anteromarginal pair small; notopleural sutures complete. Mesonotal lateral setae pointed; metanotum with weak reticulate sculpture medially, median setae small and acute. Prosternal basantra indicated but variably sclerotised; ferna large almost meeting medially; mesopresternum formed of paired lateral triangles; sternopleural sutures long and slender. Fore tarsal tooth small and curved in female, large in male. Fore wing broad, not constricted medially; with 15‒20 duplicated cilia. Pelta triangular, reticulate, with pair of campaniform sensilla; tergites II‒VII each with 2 pairs of sigmoid wing-retaining setae but posterior pair on III-VI much larger than anterior pair; tergite IX setae S1 almost as long as tube, tube shorter than head. Male tergite IX S2 setae short and weakly developed; sternite IX apparently with large pore plate.

Relationships

There is little reason to believe that the five species listed in Treherniella are really congeneric. However, they apparently share the same unusual antennal sense cone formula of three on both the third and fourth segments.

Biology

Priesner (1965) states that afra was found breeding apparently on grasses and Juncus acutus, whereas Bournier (1971) found inferna breeding on Helichrysum stoechas in southern France.

Distribution

Of the five species listed in this genus, the type species is from Florida, two species are from South America, afra is from Egypt and Palestine, and inferna from France and south-eastern Europe.

Nomenclature

Treherniella Watson, 1923: 81. Type species Haplothrips orlando Watson & Osborn 1919, by monotypy.

Five species plus one fossil species are listed in this genus (ThripsWiki, 2023).

Euro-Mediterranean species
Treherniella afra Priesner, 1935
Treherniella inferna (Priesner, 1922)

References

Bournier A (1971) Thysanoptères de France V. Annales de la Société entomologique de France (N.S.) 7 (4): 919–933.

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]