Stephanothrips barretti Mound

Mound, Laurence A. & Tree, Desley J., 2018, Fungus-feeding thrips of the genus Stephanothrips in Australia (Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripinae), Zootaxa 4442 (1), pp. 181-186 : 182

Stephanothrips barretti Mound

( Figs 5, 6 , 11 )

Described from a single female ( Mound 1972: 100), this wingless species has been found widely in eastern Australia, although only four males have been seen. The collecting localities range from various sites in Tasmania including Flinders Island, southern Victoria, eastern New South Wales including the Canberra area, and southeastern Queensland, also Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. The species has generally been collected only one specimen at a time, and particularly on dead branches, and most individuals bear a large number of fungal spores and fragments of mycelia on their surface. The brown to dark brown body and rectangular head, are distinctive amongst the Australian thrips fauna ( Fig. 5 ), although antennal segment III is variably paler in the basal third ( Fig. 6 ). The anterior margins of the prosternal ferna are weakly sclerotized, but the meso and metasternal furcae are well developed ( Fig. 9 ). In appearance, barretti is similar to formosanus from Taiwan and Japan, but has tergite I clearly distinct from the metanotum ( Fig. 11 ).

Figures

FIGURES 1–10. Stephanothrips from Australia. Head & pronotum 1–5: (1) occidentalis; (2) broomei; (3) howei; (4) ferrari; (5) barretti. Antenna 6–8: (6) barretti; (7) broomei; (8) howei. Prosternites 9–10: (9) barretti; (10) howei.

FIGURES 11–15. Stephanothrips from Australia, metanotum & tergites I–II. (11) barretti; (12) broomei; (13) ferrari; (14) howei; (15) occidentalis.