Hercinothrips Bagnall

This genus of nine species is native to the Old World, but with H. bicinctus and H. femoralis widely dispersed (Mound & Marullo 1996). The first of these has been recorded as damaging banana plants in Brazil, as discussed below, but the only confirmed record of H. femoralis from Brazil is by Bondar (1931) who described Heliothrips apicalis that is now a synonym of H. femoralis . Members of this genus are unusual amongst Panchaetothripinae in that both veins on each fore wing have a complete row of setae. The antennae are 8-segmented, with a forked sense cone on segments III and IV, and males have three pairs of stout setae on abdominal tergite IX, and the sternal pore plates, when present, are transversely linear or reduced to small dots.