Haplothrips leucanthemi (Schrank)

Mound, Laurence A. & Matsunaga, Janis N., 2017, The species of Haplothrips (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripinae) and related genera recorded from the Hawaiian Islands, ZooKeys 662, pp. 79-92 : 85-86

Haplothrips leucanthemi (Schrank)

Remarks.

This species, under the name niger , was reported from Maui by Sakimura (1990), based on specimens taken on Haleakala at an altitude of 6500-8500 ft from the grass Anthoxanthum odoratum , both in 1963 and 1977. However, the host plants of this thrips are not likely to be any species of Poaceae . Bisexual populations occur widely in Europe in the flowers of certain species of Asteraceae , particularly Chrysanthemum leucanthemum , the ox-eye daisy. A uni-sexual form that is commonly referred to as H. niger , occurs in the flowers of red clover, Trifolium pratense . Efforts by workers in Europe to distinguish the two forms morphometrically have been less than successful ( Mound and Minaei 2007), and niger is currently considered a synonym. The species is unusual within the genus Haplothrips because of the short postocular setae on the head that do not extend to the posterior margin of the compound eyes (Fig. 4). Although not collected recently on the Hawaiian Islands, this European species is known from southern Australia, New Zealand, North America, Chile and Argentina ( Hoddle et al. 2012).