
Small to medium sized, usually macropterous Phlaeothripinae - Haplothripini. Head a little longer than wide, vertex with few sculpture lines; postocular setae arising wide apart, pointed or weakly capitate; genae convex but narrowing to base; mouth cone short; maxillary stylets retracted to postocular setae, one third of head width apart, maxillary bridge present. Antennae 8-segmented; segments III and IV each with 2 sense-cones; segment VIII slender and constricted at base. Pronotum with little sculpture; anteromarginal setae small, remaining 4 pairs of major setae weakly capitate or pointed; notopleural sutures complete. Prosternal basantra present; ferna not wide apart; mesopresternum a pair of lateral triangles more or less weakly connected medially; metathoracic sternopleural sutures not present. Fore tarsal tooth small and forwardly directed in both sexes. Fore wings constricted medially, duplicated cilia present. Pelta triangular; tergites II‒VII each with two pairs of sigmoid wing-retaining setae; tergite IX setae pointed, as long as tube; tube shorter than head. Male tergite IX setae S2 usually short and stout; sternite VIII with no pore plate.
This genus is a weakly diagnosed member of the Haplothripini (Mound & Tree, 2019). At least some of the 17 species listed are not congeneric with fuliginosa (Okajima & Masumoto, 2024). For example, in zawirskae antennal segments I and II are unique in bearing unusually long setae on the inner margin, and ulmi is reported as having the fore tarsi unarmed (Priesner, 1964).
The European species of this genus apparently live on the bark of trees and even in galls (Priesner, 1964) where they are presumably predatory.
The species listed in this genus (ThripsWiki, 2022) are all from the Old World between Europe and Australia, with many of them from tropical Asia. Of the three species listed here, zawirskae is known from a single female taken in a trap in Poland, ulmi is recorded from central Europe, and fuliginosus is widespread across northern and central Europe (Mound et al., 2018).
Xylaplothrips Priesner, 1928: 572. Type species Cryptothrips fuliginosa Schille 1911, by monotypy.
There are 17 species listed in this genus worldwide (ThripsWiki, 2023).
Euro-Mediterranean species
Xylaplothrips fuliginosus (Schille, 1911)
Xylaplothrips ulmi Priesner, 1939
Xylaplothrips zawirskae Kucharczyk, 2008
Mound LA, Collins DW & Hastings A (2018). Thysanoptera Britannica et Hibernica - Thrips of the British Isles. Lucidcentral.org, Identic Pty Ltd, Queensland, Australia. https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/british_thrips/index.html
Mound LA & Tree DC (2019) Rediagnoses of the Asian genera Xylaplothrips and Mesandrothrips (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripinae, Haplothripini), with keys to Australian species. Zootaxa 4613 (2): 327–341.
Okajima S & Masumoto M (2024) Review of the genus Karnyothrips (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripidae) from Asia between India and Japan. Zootaxa XXXX: XX-XX.
Priesner H (1964) Ordnung Thysanoptera (Fransenflügler, Thripse). in Franz H, Bestimmungsbücher zur Bodenfauna Europas 2: 1–242. Akademie-Verlag.