Franklinothrips variegatus Girault, 1927 : 1

Mound, Laurence A. & Reynaud, Philippe, 2005, Franklinothrips; a pantropical Thysanoptera genus of ant­mimicking obligate predators (Aeolothripidae), Zootaxa 864, pp. 1-16 : 13

Franklinothrips variegatus Girault, 1927: 1

Described originally from south eastern Queensland, Australia, this species ( Fig. 15 ) has been found breeding at Canberra on the leaves of Catalpa in the Australian National University grounds, and also on Dodonaea shrubs at Mutawindji in western New South Wales. A single female has also been studied from the far north of Western Australia, near Drysdale River NP. It probably represents a south eastern extension of the range of the common African species, F. m e g a l o p s, and F. rarosae from the Philippines is presumably also related. The degree to which the outline of the head is confluent with that of the pronotum varies greatly between specimens in museum collections, and presumably depends on how extended the cervical membranes become during the chemical treatment involved in microslide preparation. Moreover, the length of the postocellar setae is variable in F. variegatus and F. megalops , both within and between locality samples.

Figures

FIGURES 12 – 20. Franklinothrips species: (12) F. strasseni, female holotype; (13) F. tenuicornis, female from Sta Catarina, Brazil; (14) F. tenuicornis, male from Sta Catarina, Brazil; (15) F. variegatus, female; (16) F. vespiformis, female from Sao Paulo, Brazil; (17) F. vespiformis, male from Sedona, Arizona, USA; (18) F. brunneicornis, female head; (19) F. s u z u k i i, female holotype; (20) F. brunneicornis, male head.