Hoplothrips perkinsi (Bagnall)

Mound, Laurence A., 2017, Intra-specific structural variation among Hawaiian Hoplothrips (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripidae), with ten new synonymies and one new species, ZooKeys 722, pp. 137-152 : 148

Hoplothrips perkinsi (Bagnall)

Dolerothrips perkinsi Bagnall, 1910: 687.

Dolerothrips intermedius Bagnall, 1910: 689. Syn. n.

Trichothrips nigricans Bagnall, 1910: 693. Syn. n.

Hoplothrips swezeyi Moulton, 1928: 120. Syn. n.

Remarks.

Described from a single female taken on Lanai, this specimen was described as having the antennae dark brown with only segment III yellow at base, but no antennae were found when the holotype was slide mounted in 1967. Another species described by Bagnall from Hawaii that has antennal segment IV almost brown is laticornis , but that has the metanotal median area without sculpture, whereas in perkinsi this area is distinctly reticulate. However, intermedius was described from a single major male taken on Haleakala, Maui, and although the slide mounted holotype lacks the tube, the single remaining antenna has segment IV brownish-yellow on the basal third. Unfortunately, nigricans was described from a single winged female that lacked antennae, and the slide mounted holotype now lacks most major setae apart from one long lateral seta on tergite VIII. In contrast, Moulton described swezeyi from 12 females and four males taken at Olinda, Maui, and distinguished this from intermedius by "its differently colored antennae". Micropterous females of swezeyi share with perkinsi a distinctly reticulate metanotum, also long lateral setae on tergites VI–VIII but with short lateral setae on tergites III and IV, and the largely brown antennal segment IV with the basal third brownish-yellow. The statement by Bagnall that perkinsi has “obsolete” lateral setae on tergite VIII is not correct, and was presumably based on examining the holotype dry on a card. In females, tergite IX setae S3 are unusually short, less than 0.6 as long as setae S1, the dorsal pair. The holotype of intermedius , also males of swezeyi , have reticulate areas laterally on sternites III–VII, and the median length of the pore plate on sternite VIII is about 35 microns. Apart from the differences in setal lengths, perkinsi and dubius are similar in many details, and unlike the other species considered here, the heads of both sexes and both morphs of these species have quite prominent cheek setae.