Thrips vulgatissimus Haliday

Mound, Laurence A. & Masumoto, Masami, 2005, The genus Thrips (Thysanoptera, Thripidae) in Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand, Zootaxa 1020 (1), pp. 1-64 : 56-57

Thrips vulgatissimus Haliday

Thrips vulgatissimus Haliday, 1836: 447

Diagnosis: Female with body and legs brown, tarsi and antennal segment III yellow; forewings pale. Head as wide as long, cheeks convex, ocellar setae pair III arising on anterior margins of ocellar triangle and slightly longer than side of triangle; postocular setae pairs I & III shorter than ocellar setae pair III, pair II minute. Antennae 8­segmented, III & IV constricted to distinct apical neck with forked sense cone. Pronotum with 2 pairs of long postero­angular setae, posterior margin with 3 (or 4) pairs of setae. Metanotum ( Fig. 105 ) with parallel lines of sculpture medially converging at posterior, median setae arising near anterior margin; campaniform sensilla present. Forewing first vein with 3 setae on distal half, second vein with complete row of about 14 setae. Tergite II with 3 lateral marginal setae; posterior margin of VIII with complete comb of long microtrichia; pleurotergites with 3 or 4 discal setae. Sternite II with 2 pairs of marginal setae, III–VII with 3 pairs; median marginal setae on VII arising well in front of margin; sternite II with few discal setae, III–VII with 15 to 20 discal setae in an irregular double row.

Male brown, smaller than female; tergite VIII without posteromarginal comb; tergite IX S1 setae widely separated from S2 setae; sternites III–VII with broadly transverse glandular area in front of discal setae.

Breeding: In Europe this species apparently breeds in the flowers of a range of plants, but it is most commonly found in small white flowers such as certain Caryophyllaceae .

Distribution: Widespread in Europe and North America ( Nakahara, 1994), this species has been taken infrequently in Tasmania and southern Victoria, and also in New Zealand.

Relationships: Although similar in general appearance to T. obscuratus from New Zealand, T. vulgatissimus differs from that and other New Zealand members of Thrips genus in the number of setae on the posterior margin of the second abdominal sternite ( Palmer, 1992). It is a European species, and is most closely related to T. meridionalis from the Mediterranean Region.

Figures

FIGURES 96–105. Thrips species. T. tomeus 96–99: (96) Head & pronotum; (97) Meso­metanota; (98) Tergites VII–VIII; (99) Fore tarsus. T. trehernei (100) Meso­metanota. T. unispinus 101–102: (101) Head & pronotum; (102) Sternites VI–VII. T. vitticornis 103–104: (103) Meso­metanota; (104) Head & pronotum. T. vulgatissimus (105) Meso­metanota.