Phaulothrips Hood

Mound, Laurence A. & Tree, Desley J., 2013, Australian spore-feeding thrips of the genus Phaulothrips (Thysanoptera, Idolothripinae), Zootaxa 3608 (4), pp. 239-252 : 240

Phaulothrips Hood

Phaulothrips Hood, 1918: 146 . Type species P. vuilleti Hood , by monotypy.

Tetraceratothrips Bagnall, 1924: 628 . Type species T. agrestis Bagnall , by monotypy. Synonymised by Mound, 1974: 78. Titanothrips Karny, 1924: 38 . Type species T. portentosus Karny , by monotypy. Synonymised by Mound, 1974: 78. Kaleidothrips Kelly , in Kelly & Mayne, 1934: 73. Type species K. inquilinus Kelly , by monotypy. Synonymised by Mound &

Palmer, 1983: 27.

Generic definition. Large dark species, macropterous or micropterous. Head elongate, elevated dorsally, truncate at anterior with antennae arising a little ventrally; frons with, or without, prominent tubercles and commonly with one or more pairs of enlarged pre-ocellar setae; postocular setae behind inner margin of eyes, one pair of postocular cheek setae; maxillary stylets close together in middle of head, retracted to postocular setae; mouth cone broadly rounded. Antennae 8-segmented, III longest, VIII as long as VII; III and IV each with two sensoria; ventral apices of V and VI prolonged ventrally in some species; I–III sometimes with dorsal setae weakly capitate. Pronotum anterior margin excavate in large specimens, epimeral sutures complete; prosternal ferna large, usually with median margins parallel; basantra small, triangular, lateral to mouth cone; mesopraesternum transverse; metathoracic sternopleural sutures present. Fore tarsi with a tooth in both sexes; fore femora usually not greatly enlarged even in large males. Fore wing broad, slightly expanded distally, with 15–50 duplicated cilia (absent in sibylla ). Metanotal median setae small. Pelta wide, usually with large median area and slender lateral wings. Tergites II–VI (or VII) usually with only one pair of wing-retaining setae, a few species with more than one pair; tergites II–VI frequently with a pair of longitudinal pale or weakly sclerotised areas mesad of wing-retaining setae; lateral abdominal setae acute, moderately long; tube variable in length and shape, with margins straight but constricted at apex to margins strongly convex.

This genus is placed in the subtribe Pygothripina (Mound & Palmer 1983), in which most of the taxa are from Australia and New Zealand. It shares with Pygothrips the presence of elongate maxillary stylets that are close together medially in the head, and the presence of a pair of stout ocellar setae, and is possibly closely related to two genera known only from Australia, Emprosthiothrips and Pelinothrips .

The non-Australian species of Phaulothrips are easily distinguished from those presented here. The species described by Bianchi (1953) from Samoa, P. magnificus , has the mid-dorsal setae on the head arising close to the postocular setae, and both pairs are more than 0.7 as long as the head width (see Mound & Palmer, 1983: 113). No other member of the genus has this setal arrangement. Three further species were described by Okajima (1989) P. melanosomus from Sulawesi has a long head with a pair of small mid-dorsal setae, and is unique in the genus in having the lateral lobes of the pelta broadly joined to the median area. P. orientalis from Bali has a similarly long head but lacks mid-dorsal setae, and the lateral lobes of the pelta are separated from the median area—a condition not found in any other member of the genus. P. solifer from the Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan has the tube slightly longer than the head, but in contrast to P. daguilaris described below it does not have a pair of setae on the lateral lobes of the pelta.