Limothrips serotina Targioni-Tozzetti, 1891

Mound, Laurence A. & Negis, Inci Şahin, 2024, Two enigmatic species epithets in the genus Limothrips (Thysanoptera, Thripinae), Zootaxa 5512 (4), pp. 597-598 : 597

Limothrips serotina Targioni-Tozzetti, 1891

This species was described by Targioni-Tozzetti in his book on the animals and insects associated with tobacco plants. At the time of this description the generic classification of the insect Order Thysanoptera was that provided by Amyot & Serville (1843) and derived both from Linnaeus (1758) and Haliday (1836), as summarised by Mound (2024). That classification provided a total of 13 available genera, three of Tubulifera and 10 of Terebrantia. However, the character states that Targioni-Tozzetti provides to support his opinion that his new species represented a member of the Terebrantian genus Limothrips are far from clear. The single specimen that he selected to illustrate had damaged antennae, but it is evident from his words that he had more than one individual, including pupae that he referred to as winged nymphs. But there is no indication that these specimens were ever deposited anywhere. The author’s statement that the head is cuboid, wider than long, precludes the species from being a member of Limothrips , because all known species of this genus have the head longer than wide. Manfred Ulitzka drew our attention to the fore wing description and illustration, which suggest that both longitudinal veins bore complete rows of evenly spaced setae. This could be interpreted as indicating that serotina is a member of the genus Frankliniella , such as the common European species Fr. intonsa . However, that species has five pairs of long setae on the pronotum, whereas serotina is described as having a short, transverse pronotum, and illustrated with only a single pair of prominent setae. An alternative interpretation is based on the statement by Targione- Tozzetti that the three ocelli on the head are “chiari” – that is “clear”. This is an unusual condition for ocelli amongst Terebrantia, in which ocelli are usually surrounded by pigment that is red or brown in colour. In contrast, adults of Thrips tabaci that occurs commonly on tobacco in the Mediterranean area, are particularly unusual in having the circum-ocellar region on the head unpigmented. This character state of “clear ocelli”, together with how frequently tabaci is found on the leaves of tobacco in the area, suggest that Limothrips serotina Targioni-Tozzetti is best regarded as a new synonym of the widespread pest species Thrips tabaci Lindeman (1889) .