Scirtothrips aurantii Faure

Mound, Laurence A. & Stiller, Michael, 2011, Species of the genus Scirtothrips from Africa (Thysanoptera, Thripidae), Zootaxa 2786, pp. 51-61 : 53

Scirtothrips aurantii Faure

( Figs 1–3 )

Scirtothrips aurantii Faure, 1929: 3

Described originally from more than 400 specimens taken from a very wide range of plants in Transvaal, Zululand and Cape Province, this species is widespread northward across Africa, through Kenya and Sudan, to Egypt and the Yemen ( Mound & Palmer, 1981), and it feeds and breeds on many unrelated plants. Despite this, a population introduced to Australia has remained largely restricted to certain species of Crassulaceae , particularly Bryophyllum , although it readily transfers to, and breeds on, several other plants under experimental conditions (personal communication, Brian Garms, 2011). The males have a comb of stout setae on the hind femora, a character that is shared only with two other species in this genus, dodonaeae and mugambii .

Diagnosis. Body mainly yellow, terga and sterna with dark median area, antecostal ridges dark; antennal segments III–IV paler than V–VIII; fore wings weakly shaded with apex paler. Ocellar setae III close together on tangent between anterior margins of posterior ocelli ( Fig. 1 ); pronotum closely striate, posteromarginal setae no more than 0.3 as long as pronotum, S2 about 1.3 times as long as S1; fore wing second vein with 3–4 setae, cilia moderately wavy; metanotum with variable elongate reticulation; tergum VIII with one or two rows of microtrichia anteromedially ( Fig. 2 ), IX with no microtrichia posteromedially; sterna IV–VI with microtrichia covering almost entire median area ( Fig. 3 ), sternum VII with discal microtrichia scarcely extending mesad of setal pair S1.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 10. Scirtothrips species. S. aurantii 1 – 3: (1) Head & pronotum; (2) Terga VII – IX; (3) Sterna V – VII. S. dorsalis 4 – 6: (4) Head & pronotum; (5) Terga VII – IX; (6) Sterna V – VII. S. africanus 7 – 10: (7) Terga VI – IX; (8) Head; (9) Metanotum (of paratype); (10) Metanotum.