Xylaplothrips Priesner, 1925

Mound, Laurence A. & Tree, Desley J., 2019, Rediagnoses of the Asian genera Xylaplothrips and Mesandrothrips (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripinae, Haplothripini), with keys to Australian species, Zootaxa 4613 (2), pp. 327-341 : 328

Xylaplothrips Priesner

Xylaplothrips Priesner, 1928: 572 . Type species: Cryptothrips fuliginosa Schille, 1910 , by monotypy.

This genus is interpreted here as comprising those Haplothrips -like species that have just two sense cones on antennal segments III and IV. These species seem to be associated with dead branches, but it remains unclear whether they behave as predators or as fungus-feeders. The type species, fuliginosus , has been taken on dead branches, as have ulmi and fungicola , but zawirskae was described from a single female taken in a Malaise trap. Two species described from Japan were taken from bamboo, but with no observations as to whether they fed on the green tissues or on fungi associated with dead tissues on these plants, or even on other organisms that also lived on these plants. Three species are here newly transferred to this genus from Haplothrips . Two of these were described by Mound and Minaei (2007) as the only known species of Haplothrips that have two sense cones on antennal segments III and IV: acaciae is possibly predatory, having been found breeding within leaves tied together by spiders or Lepidoptera larvae, but gahniae is probably phytophagous, having been found only in the inflorescences of a species of Poaceae . The third species here transferred, collyerae , is known as a predator on the eggs of mites; it is unusual within this genus because antennal segment IV bears an additional very small sense cone, a condition shared by the new species anarsius described below. Pitkin (1976) included debilis in this genus, but indicated doubts concerning its relationships. A total of 13 species are here transferred from Xylaplothrips to Mesandrothrips , and a further six species are listed below within Xylaplothrips as incertae sedis. Okajima (2006) provided an extensive diagnosis of this genus. However, most of the listed character states are shared with other Haplothripini , and many of the distinguishing character states are prefaced by the caveat “usually” thus rendering the diagnosis operationally ineffective. As a result, the genus Xylaplothrips now comprises 11 species, almost all described from the Palearctic and Australian regions.

Diagnosis: Macropterous Haplothripini with 8-segmented antennae; two major sense cones on each of antennal segments III and IV; segment VIII usually slender and constricted to the base; pronotum often with only four pairs of major setae, the anteromarginal setae being scarcely longer than discal setae.