Lefroyothrips pictus (Hood)

Mound, L. A. & Ng, Y. F., 2021, Studies on the genus Lefroyothrips, with new records from Malaysia, New Caledonia and a new species from Australia (Thysanoptera, Thripidae), Zootaxa 4927 (4), pp. 567-575 : 571

Lefroyothrips pictus (Hood)

( Figs 4 , 18, 20 )

Physothrips pictus Hood, 1916: 116 .

This species was described from four females and two males taken from the flowers of Melia azedarach , 14.i.1915, at Ibadan, Nigeria, but it has subsequently been identified from Sierre Leone, Cameroon, Uganda, Rwanda and Angola. It shares with L. fasciatus the dark band at the apex of the fore wing, but the tergites of females have a distinctive colour pattern, with tergites VI–X brown, but the posterior half of VIII and the anterior third of IX sharply pale ( Fig. 18 ). Antennal segments III–V ( Fig. 4 ) are slightly less slender than in L. lefroyi and without the small sub-basal swelling found in L. fasciatus .

Specimens studied. Nigeria, Ibadan , 1 female paratype in Melia azedarach fls, 14.i.1915, 1 male in Citrus fls, 11.iii.1964; Ile-Ife, 1 female in light trap, i.1970 (in BMNH) . Angola, 1 male on Citrus fruits, 24.v.1971 (in BMNH) . Rwanda, Rusumu , 1 female on Carapa grandiflora , x.1993 (in SMF) .

Figures

FIGURES 1–10. Lefroyothrips species. Antennal segments, 1–6: (1) fasciatus holotype; (2) fasciatus male; (3) lefroyi; (4) pictus paratype; (5) tribulationi; (6) varatharajani. 7–8 lefroyi: (7) female; (8) head & pronotum. L. tribulationi, 9–10: (9) head; (10) pronotum.

FIGURES 17–23. Lefroyothrips species. Female tergites VII–X, 17–19: (17) lefroyi; (18) pictus; (19) tribulationi. male tergite IX, 20–21: (20) pictus; (21) fasciatus. (22) lefroyi female sternites VI–VII. (23) fasciatus fore wing.