Leptothrips mal i (Fitch)

Phloeothrips mali Fitch, 1855: 806 .

Cryptothrips aspersus Hinds, 1902: 205 . Synonym in Hood, 1914: 162. Cryptothrips californicus Daniel, 1904: 293 . Synonym in Hood, 1914: 162. Cryptothrips adirondacks Watson, 1921: 83 . Synonym in Hood, 1927b: 112. Leptothrips gurdus Johansen, 1987: 45 . Syn. n.

Leptothrips septemtrionalis Johansen, 1987: 55 . Syn. n.

Leptothrips maliaffinis Johansen, 1987: 61 . Syn. n.

Johansen distinguished maliaffinis and septemtrionalis from mali on the grounds that specimens of mali lack a major sense cone on the external apical margin of antennal segment IV - that is, he claimed that mali has only three major sense cones on this segment. However, all available specimens of mali, including specimens identified as this species by Johansen himself, have on segment IV four well-developed sensilla basiconica, even though one of these is sometimes smaller than the others. Johansen further distinguished septemtrionalis from maliaffinis on the basis that the former lacks a small accessory sense cone (sensillum coeloconicum) on the external margin of antennal segment IV, whereas the latter has such a sense cone. However, although this structure is visible on the right antenna of the holotype female of maliaffinis it is not visible on the left antenna, nor on either of the antennae of two available paratypes of maliaffinis . Similarly, this small sense cone is not visible on the holotype of septemtrionalis nor one male paratype from Virginia, but is clearly visible on the left (but not the right) antenna of a female paratype of septemtrionalis from near Blacksburg. There is no evidence from any of the available slides that the small sense cone has been broken off during slide preparation, and the assumption here is therefore that its presence is variable (or that its visibility is variable on slide-mounted specimens). One female from Colorado, identified by Johansen as californicus, has this minute sense cone visible on the left antenna but not the right. As discussed above, gurdus was described by Johansen as having the tube short and conical, but that wording does not seem appropriate to the tube of either the holotype female (Fig. 14) or the paratype male, and these specimens cannot be distinguished from the common species mali . Johansen also placed mcconelli in the same group with mali as having only three major sense cones on antennal segment IV, but placed californicus in the group with maliaffinis as having four such sense cones. The first of these is here considered a valid species, but the second is returned to synonymy with mali . As interpreted here, mali is variable in the colour and length of antennal segments III and IV, with some individuals having these segments largely brown and slender, but others having them shorter and yellow in the basal half. Similar variation in the colour and shape of these antennal segments occurs in the closely related western species, heliomanes .