Thrips cf. abyssiniae (Moulton)

Vierbergen, Gijsbertus, 2014, Thysanoptera intercepted in the Netherlands on plant products from Ethiopia, with description of two new species of the genus Thrips, Zootaxa 3765 (3), pp. 269-278 : 272-273

Thrips cf. abyssiniae (Moulton)

Moulton (1928) described T. abyssiniae from two females collected in 1926 in a forest at a height of about 900 meter on Gara Chillalo (about 130 km south of Addis Ababa). A single female intercepted from Ethiopia in a rose cut flower consignment at Rijnsburg auction, 4.ii.2005 (J.G. de Zeeuw) differs in a few characters from the diagnosis of this species by Mound (2010): ocellar setae III on (not outside) triangle; both pronotal posteroangular setae less than 50% as long as pronotum (not more than 60% as long); fore wing first vein with three distal setae (not 4–5); sternites V–VII with 8–9 discal setae (not about 15). The lengths of the antennal segments and abdominal setae given by Moulton (1928) do not differ significantly, but Moulton gives antennal segment V is 44 microns whereas it is 36 in the intercepted specimen. From these differences it is concluded the variability of T.

abyssiniae is insufficiently known. So more material must be sampled before it can be decided our specimen belongs to the same species or not.