Liothrips hsuae Wang & Lin

Liothrips hsuae Wang & Lin, 2020: 362 .

Described from Taiwan on Ficus sp., this species was stated to be similar to L. piperinus, but it seems to be more similar to L. kuwayamai in body shape and coloration. Both of them have a complete mesopresternum with median protrusion, although in Liothrips species this sclerite is usually eroded medially or divided into two lateral triangles. Wang and Lin (2020) indicated that these two species might be distinguished by length of pronotal am, which was minute in L. kuwayamai but well-developed in L. hsuae . However, the redescription of L. kuwayamai from Okajima (2006) based on 131 females including the holotype showed that both am and aa setae on the pronotum were well-developed, and no other features were found to differentiate these species. Therefore, L. hsuae is possibly a synonym of L. kuwayamai and is excluded from the key given above.