Pseudanaphothrips parvus (Bagnall)

Mound, Laurence A., 2012, Three new synonyms among Australian Thripinae (Insecta: Thysanoptera), Zootaxa 3209 (1), pp. 67-68 : 67

Pseudanaphothrips parvus (Bagnall)

Pseudothrips parvus Bagnall, 1916: 222

Physothrips nativus Girault, 1929a: 29 . Syn. n.

Homochaetothrips pallipennis Sakimura, 1968: 62 . Syn. n.

Several Pseudanaphothrips species remain known from very few specimens, and are particularly difficult to distinguish from each other ( Mound & Palmer, 1981). In contrast to related members of the genus, P. parvus has rather less shaded fore wings, and shorter and paler antennal segments, and has ocellar setae pair III slightly more anterior in position. The lectotype is in poor condition, but recently collected specimens from various localities indicate that the body size is more variable than was assumed by Sakimura (1968) from a study of that original specimen. Measurements of P. pallipennis , including recently studied paratypes, fall within the range of P. parvus as here recognised. The holotype of P. nativus is a severely shrunken female on which insufficient details can be seen to distinguish it from P. parvus . These three names are considered to represent a single widespread Australian thrips that lives in the yellow flowers of several native Asteraceae species.