Rhamphothrips tenuirostris (Karny)

Mound, Laurence A. & Tree, Desley J., 2011, New records and four new species of Australian Thripidae (Thysanoptera) emphasise faunal relationships between northern Australia and Asia, Zootaxa 2764, pp. 35-48 : 45

Rhamphothrips tenuirostris (Karny)

Rhynchothrips tenuirostris Karny, 1912: 297

Females of this species can be recognised by the condition of both median pairs of setae on sternum VII being minute ( Fig. 30 ), scarcely twice as long as their basal pores. This contrast with the condition mentioned above in two species from India, R. santokhi and R. parviceps in which only the median of these two pairs of setae, S1, is minute and thus much smaller than setae S2, and all other members of the genus in which both pairs of setae are long ( Fig. 18 ). Bhatti (1978b) distinguished the Indian species R. aureus (and its synonym R. hartwigi ) from R. tenuirostris , described from Java, on character states that appear to be related to body size. These differences may not be valid, because the number and size of the lateral setae on the mesosternum differ considerably between the largest and smallest males listed below from Uncaria lanosa in Australia ( Figs 27, 28 ). Bhatti (1977) provided clear illustrations of the male genitalia of R. aureus , indicating that the phallus bears a pair of upward pointing spikes. Males from Uncaria in Australia that are here identified as R. tenuirostris have the phallus essentially similar to those illustrations. Terga I–VIII of aureus were described as “completely sculptured with transverse anastomosing lines” and similar but faint lines are visible in specimens from Australia. On tergum IX of the Australian males there is a pair of small, widely separated, tubercles ( Fig. 23 ), and ventrolaterally there is a group of stout microtrichia.

Material studied. Australia, Queensland, Redlynch, Crystal Creek, 12 females, 6 males from leaves of Uncaria lanosa (Rubiaceae) , 5.xi.2008 (LAM 5192; DJT 789); Kuranda, 2 females from Grevillea baileyana , 7.xi.2008; Cairns, James Cook University Campus, 1 female from leaves of Euphorbiaceae tree, 3.xi.2008; Badu Island, 1 female, 1 male from grasses, 18.xi.2009.

Figures

FIGURES 27 – 32. Rhamphothrips and Tusothrips. R. tenuirostris 27 – 30: (27 – 28) large and small males, fore coxae and mesosternum; (29) meso & metanotum and abdominal terga I – II; (30) female sternum VII. T. setiprivus 31 – 32: (31) female sternum VII; (32) head, thorax and abdominal terga I – II.

FIGURES 15 – 23. Rhamphothrips species. R. amyae 15 – 19: (15) antenna; (16) head & pronotum; (17) male terga V – IX; (18) female sterna VI – VII; (19) male fore tibia & tarsus. R. cissus 20 – 21: (20) thoracic sterna; (21) male terga V – IX. R. pandens (22) male terga IV – IX. R. tenuirostris (23) male terga VI – IX.