Apelaunothrips aokii Okajima

Mound, Laurence A., 2013, Species diversity in the Palaeotropical leaf-litter genus Apelaunothrips (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripinae), Zootaxa 3741 (1), pp. 181-193 : 187

Apelaunothrips aokii Okajima

( Figs 1 , 9 )

Described from two females collected in S.E Kalimantan [Borneo], Indonesia, this species is closely related to haradai. These two are distinguished by differences in the head length, but the specimens listed below, identified from the original description, vary in this length. The original description of aokii referred to the legs as “yellowish”, but Okajima & Reyes (1990) reported the legs as varying considerably in colour, to dark brown, in a series of specimens from Sabah, in N.E. Borneo. Some of the specimens listed below have the fore tibiae dark brown with the fore femora distinctly paler, and they have campaniform sensilla on the pelta, in contrast to the two type specimens. The male of haradai has the fore femora similar to that illustrated for zonatus , with a large curved basal tooth ( Fig. 15 ), but none of the known males of aokii have such a process.

Specimens studied. Malaysia, Sarawak, Mulu National Park, 5 females, 5 males in leaf litter, 24.ix–18.x.1977 (B. Bolton) (in The Natural History Museum, London).

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 4. Apelaunothrips species, head & pronotum. (1) aokii; (2) bogor sp. n.; (3) consimilis; (4) gombak sp. n.

FIGURES 9 – 15. Apelaunothrips species. (9) aokii pelta & tergites II – III; (10) bogor sp. n. metanotum & pelta; (11) bogor sp. n. tergites II – III; (12) gombak sp. n. pelta & tergite II: (13) zonatus metanotum & pelta; (14) bogor sp. n. male head & fore legs; (15) zonatus male fore leg.