Apelaunothrips

Mound, Laurence A., 2013, Species diversity in the Palaeotropical leaf-litter genus Apelaunothrips (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripinae), Zootaxa 3741 (1), pp. 181-193 : 183

Species-groups within Apelaunothrips

One group of species, the consimilis group, shares the presence on the vertex of transverse striae or narrow transverse reticulation ( Fig. 3 ), and most of these also have the eighth antennal segment not constricted into a basal neck ( Figs 17, 19 ). These species include: armatus; bhowalii; consimilis ; fasciatus; femoralis; flavicornis ; malayensis; philippinensis. In addition, nigripennis lacks a basal neck on antennal segment VIII, but has almost no sculpture medially on the vertex. However, loss of sculpture on the vertex is a character state that could be polyphyletic, and nigripennis is possibly related to the consimilis group. Another group of species has the vertex with equiangular reticulation ( Fig. 1 ), and amongst these aokii , haradai and zonatus are particularly closely related, although zonatus has the reticulation reduced on at least the posterior part of the vertex. Males of haradai and zonatus are remarkable in having on the fore femora a large, curved basal tubercle ( Fig. 15 ), but the available samples are insufficient to tell if small males of these species will lack this structure, as discussed below concerning variation in the fore femur of bogor ( Fig. 14 ). Males of the latter species are particularly unusual because they are dimorphic, either large or small with no intermediates, in contrast to the normal situation amongst Phlaeothripidae in which structural variation related to body size is continuous within any given species. Three further species have the vertex fully reticulate; marginalis and rostratus appear to be closely related, but tricolor remains known only from a single specimen that is difficult to assess. All six of these species with the vertex reticulate also have antennal segment VIII with a basal neck, and a similar constricted neck to this segment ( Figs 20–22 ) occurs in the remaining species of this genus that lack sculpture medially on the vertex. A further group of closely related species is evident at couplets 26 and 27 in the key below; spinalis differs in having a rather longer head, but there are only weak differences recorded between bogor , limbatus and longidens. The last of these, longidens, was described as having five sensoria on the fourth antennal segment, with an extra sensorium on the external margin about one third of the length of the segment from the apex, but this requires further confirmation. Similarly, variation in the number of sensoria on the third antennal segment is discussed below in medioflavus , the type species of the genus.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 4. Apelaunothrips species, head & pronotum. (1) aokii; (2) bogor sp. n.; (3) consimilis; (4) gombak sp. n.

FIGURES 16 – 22. Apelaunothrips species, antennae. (16) bogor sp. n.; (17) consimilis; (18) desleyae sp. n.; (19) flavicornis; (20) gombak sp. n.; (21) madrasensis; (22) medioflavus.

FIGURES 9 – 15. Apelaunothrips species. (9) aokii pelta & tergites II – III; (10) bogor sp. n. metanotum & pelta; (11) bogor sp. n. tergites II – III; (12) gombak sp. n. pelta & tergite II: (13) zonatus metanotum & pelta; (14) bogor sp. n. male head & fore legs; (15) zonatus male fore leg.